(The Center Square) – California Attorney General Rob Bonta said that his office will protect “the health and rights of transgender individuals to access medically necessary care.”
Bonta made this statement after the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday about Tennessee’s Senate Bill 1. This bill prevents minors from receiving hormone and puberty blockers as well as getting surgery to identify as “a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex.”
“Laws such as Tennessee’s Senate Bill 1 are dangerous and discriminatory by denying transgender youth the critical, lifesaving care they need,” Bonta said.
“Amid a growing wave of legislative attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, it is more important than ever to stand against these harmful measures,” he added. “ I urge the Supreme Court to protect the rights of transgender youth and ensure they are not denied the care they need to live full and authentic lives.”
Following the oral arguments, several media outlets reported that the Supreme Court appeared likely to uphold Tennessee’s law.
After the Supreme Court oral arguments, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said it should be up to the General Assembly.
“Tennessee’s General Assembly reviewed the medical evidence, as well as the evidence-based decisions of European countries that restricted these procedures, and ultimately passed this bipartisan law prohibiting irreversible medical interventions,” Skrmetti said in a statement after oral arguments ended. “The plaintiffs in this case are asking the court to take the power to regulate the practice of medicine away from the people’s elected representatives and vest it in unaccountable judges.”
Bonta and 19 other state attorneys general filed an amicus brief in the U.S. v. Skrmetti case, urging the Supreme Court to overturn Senate Bill 1.
In California, at least 2,024 minors received sex reassignment procedures between 2019 and 2023, The Center Square previously reported. This was the most in the country for a state. Families that underwent these procedures were billed almost $ 29 million.
This means that the average medical intervention costs per child were an estimated $14,300.
The data came from Do No Harm (DNH), which “represents physicians, nurses, medical students, patients, and policymakers focused on keeping identity politics out of medical education, research, and clinical practice.”
DNH data shows three of the top 12 hospitals performing these procedures are in California.