Ohio is suing the ACLU for a moratorium on gender-affirming treatment for minors.

The state of Ohio was sued on Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) over a law that will start effecting next month that prohibits gender-affirming health care for adolescents.

In January, Ohio politicians overrode Republican Gov. The veto of policy by Mike DeWine prohibits transgender minors from using menstruation filters, hormone replacement therapy, and surgery. In a December statement, DeWine claimed that there could not be “more serious” effects of such a law on trans children and their families.

The law, which also prohibits transgender girls and women from competing on female college sports team, is scheduled to go into effect on April 24. Prior to the law’s efficient date, minors who receive gender-affirming health care are exempt from its health care-related restrictions.

Tuesday’s complaint, filed on behalf of two 12- year- older girls and their families, asks an Ohio court to stop the law, House Bill 68, from taking effect, and to consider the measure’s restrictions on gender- affirming health care illegal.

The transgender children may suffer severe damage as a result of the ban on gender-affirming care. These personal, private medical decisions should remain between families and doctors, they do n’t belong to politicians”, said Freda Levenson, legal director of the ACLU of Ohio, which filed Tuesday’s lawsuit with the ACLU and the law firm Goodwin.

The lawsuit, filed in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, argues that the fresh Ohio rules violates some parts of the state’s law, including the equal protection clause.

” Specifically, it discriminates against]transgender adolescents ] based on their sex designated at birth, based on the incongruence between their sex and gender identity, based on their transgender status, and based on their failure to conform to stereotypes and expected behavior associated with their sex designated at birth”, the lawsuit states.

According to the lawsuit, the new health care regulations unfairly punish transgender minors ‘ relatives by preventing them from receiving health care for their children, which the lawsuit claims is required by major medical organizations.

The lawsuit contends that the law likewise contains more than one area, which violates the state’s single-subject rule.

House Bill 68 and a distinct measure to prohibit transgender student players from competing on sports team that reflect their gender identity were combined by Ohio politicians in June.

H. B.” By combining these two distinct assignment matters into a single expenses, H. B. 68 contains a discord of content problem”, Tuesday’s complaint says. ” In total, the General Assembly passed a bill containing more than one subject, in contravention of the Ohio Constitution”.

Ohio’s Republican Attorney General Dave Yost, who is named as a respondent in Tuesday’s complaint, said his company is prepared to defend the new rules in court.

In a post on social media, Yost wrote that” we protect babies with restrictions that do not apply to adults, including those that range from signing legitimate deals to purchasing alcohol and tobacco.” ” As I promised during the filibuster bypass, my company will support this constitutional statute”.

24 states, including Ohio, have prohibited or severely restricted transgender minors and some people from receiving gender-affirming medical attention. According to the Movement Advancement Project, a philanthropic organization that monitors Gay rules, restrictions passed in Florida, Idaho, and Montana have been halted by court orders.

A federal judge in June entirely blocked Arkansas’s 2021 restrictions, ruling it illegal.

In Ohio, a set of document guidelines released earlier this year by the country’s Department of Health and Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services also have potential limitations on gender-affirming health care.

Since 2020, at least 24 states have passed laws preventing transgender pupil players from competing on sports team that reflect their gender identity. Temporary rulings are blocking the protection of restrictions in Arizona, Idaho, West Virginia and Utah.