From Poe v. Drummond, decided today by the Tenth Circuit (Judge Joel Carson, joined by Judges Harris Hartz and Gregory Phillips), upholding an Oklahoma statute that "prohibits healthcare providers from 'provid[ing] gender transition procedures' to anyone under eighteen."
Parent Plaintiffs assert a substantive Due Process claim arguing that SB 613 impinges on their fundamental right to make medical decisions for their minor children….
Parents have the right "to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children," which includes "to some extent, a more specific right to make decisions about the child's medical care," But we and the Supreme Court have held that parents do not have an absolute "right to direct a child's medical care." …
We … have consistently held that individuals do not have an affirmative right to specific medical treatments the government reasonably prohibits. We have held that although patients have a fundamental right to refuse treatment, the "selection of a particular treatment … is within the area of governmental interest in protecting public health." Thus, the government has the "authority to limit the patient's choice of medication," whether the patient is an adult or a child.
The parent-child relationship does not change our reasoning, and to conclude otherwise would allow parents to "veto legislative and regulatory polices about drugs and surgeries permitted for children." LAlthough parents have authority over their children's medical care, no case law "support[s] the extension of this right to a right of parents to demand that the State make available a particular form of treatment." In fact, the state's interest in a child's health may "constrain[] a parent's liberty interest in the custody, care, and management of her children." So our Nation does not have a deeply rooted history of affirmative access to medical treatment the government reasonably prohibited, regardless of the parent-child relationship….
