Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a response brief with the United States Supreme Court today defending Tennesseans’ decision to prohibit risky and irreversible gender transition procedures for kids.
“The people of Tennessee, through their elected representatives, took measured action with Senate Bill 1 to protect kids from irreversible, unproven medical procedures,” said Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. “Lawmakers recognized that there is little to no credible evidence to justify the serious risks these procedures present to youth and joined a growing number of European countries in restricting their use on minors with gender-identity issues.”
Since America’s founding, States have governed the practice of medicine within their borders. It is States who license doctors and medical professionals. States also regulate medical practices, including by exercising their authority to restrict the administration of drugs. When the bipartisan representatives of the people of Tennessee passed Senate Bill 1, they used this longstanding power to restrict the use of pharmaceutical and surgical interventions for gender transitions for kids under 18 years old. Similar laws now exist in 23 other states.
“The federal government, in its arguments to the Supreme Court, puts its faith in a false and manufactured consensus that ignores the many doctors, States, and countries who have looked at the evidence and determined these treatments are too risky for kids,” Skrmetti continued. “The Constitution does not prevent the States from regulating the practice of medicine where hot-button social issues are concerned. People who disagree with restrictions on irreversible pediatric procedures for gender transition are free to advocate for change through state elections.”
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