North Dakota judge upholds state law banning transgender treatments for minors

A North Dakota judge has upheld the state's law banning transgender treatments for minors, ruling that it doesn't violate the state constitution.

District Judge Jackson Lofgren said in his decision Wednesday that the law discriminates on the basis of age and medical purpose, not sex, and that there’s little evidence the state legislature passed the law for “an invidious discriminatory purpose,” The Associated Press reported. He also mentioned the various concerns and ongoing debates over transgender medical treatments.

“The evidence presented at trial establishes there is a legitimate concern regarding the capacity of minors to understand and appreciate the long-term consequences of the practices prohibited by the Health Care Law,” Lofgren wrote.

The state law, which took effect in April 2023, makes it a felony to perform transgender surgery on a minor and a misdemeanor for a healthcare provider to prescribe or give hormone treatments or puberty blockers to a child who identifies as transgender.

Before the law banning the treatments was enacted, there were at least two pediatric endocrinologists who provided transgender services in North Dakota.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states can ban transgender treatments for minors. At least 27 states have enacted laws restricting or banning the treatments.

Republican state Rep. Bill Tveit, who introduced the transgender treatment ban legislation, said he is pleased with the ruling.

“It’s a law that needs to be there. We need to protect our youth, and that’s what the whole goal of this thing was from the beginning,” Tveit said.

Several affected families and a pediatric endocrinologist brought the lawsuit, but the judge dismissed some of their claims, leaving only the physician as a plaintiff.

Lofgren also granted a request that allows minors who were already receiving transgender treatments before the law took effect to continue them, citing the law and his previous findings.

“This ruling is devastating for transgender youth and their families in North Dakota. The evidence in this case was overwhelming: this law inflicts real harm, strips families of their constitutional rights, and denies young people the medical care they need to thrive,” Jess Braverman, the legal director for the nonprofit Gender Justice, which represented the plaintiff, said in a statement.