COLUMBUS, Ohio — Republican lawmakers are taking issue with a judge's decision to temporarily block a ban on gender-affirming care for minors in Ohio.
The law, set to take effect on April 24, bans gender-affirming surgeries and hormone therapies, and restricts mental health care for transgender individuals under 18. The measure also bans transgender girls and women from girls and women's sports teams at both the K-12 and collegiate level.
In his written opinion, Franklin County Judge Michael Holbrook said the law likely violates a requirement that state legislation deal with a single subject.
State Representative Jena Powell sponsored the Save Women's Sports Act.
"The bottom line is that when you have a male competing in female-only sports, it's unfair," Powell said.
Powell says the judge's decision to issue the temporary restraining order based on the single-subject requirement for legislation is "grasping at straws."
"When we combine pieces of legislation, which happens all the time, you know, we ensure that it's constitutional," Powell said. "So, I without a doubt know that it is constitutional. We worked with some of the brightest minds in the nation and they also know that it is constitutional."
Senate President Matt Huffman takes issue with the way the legal system works in cases involving legislation like House Bill 68, which he also says was enacted according to the state constitution.
"I think there's a general concern, stepping outside that issue, with statewide injunctions by a single common pleas court judge," Huffman said.
On the other side, Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio believes the law is unconstitutional.
"This ruling sort of reinforces that for right now, and I'm hopeful that going forward it will be deemed unconstitutional in general, in total," Antonio said.
Antonio said she also believes both parts of the law take away the rights of Ohioans.
The temporary restraining order will be in effect for 14 days after April 16 or until the hearing of the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction.