Supreme Court Upholds State Ban on Gender-Affirming Care for Young People

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
June 18, 2025 
CONTACT: Carina Pacheco, [email protected] 

This morning, the Supreme Court delivered an opinion in U.S. v. Skrmetti—a landmark case about whether families with transgender kids can access essential gender-affirming health care, or if politicians can overrule families’ decisions about medical care for their loved ones. In a 6-3 split, the Court upheld a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for young people, a decision that could have sweeping implications for family privacy as well as discrimination in health care more broadly.

Brittany Fonteno, Chief Executive Officer at the National Abortion Federation (NAF), issued the following statement in response:

“Today, the Supreme Court yet again failed to protect people’s privacy, bodily autonomy, and freedom by allowing politicians to target transgender youth’s health care. Very often, the same clinics offering abortion care are the ones providing gender-affirming care, including many NAF member clinics. Just like abortion bans, these politically-driven bans on essential health care are a threat to people’s well-being and are not informed by medical expertise. NAF stands in solidarity with the transgender community and allies in the fight for access to health care and bodily autonomy.

“Ideologically, this Supreme Court is nearly identical to the one that overturned Roe v. Wade nearly three years ago with the Dobbs decision, making way for harmful state abortion bans to take effect across the country. NAF is committed to providing our members with the resources and training to serve diverse populations of people across the country with high-quality care.”

NAF remains committed to helping as many people as possible access high-quality and affordable abortion care. Anyone in any state can call the National Abortion Hotline at 1-800-772-9100 to understand their options and get the assistance they need, whether that’s help finding a provider, arranging travel to another state, or funding for their care.