Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said he believes that if the U.S. Supreme Court rules to uphold Tennessee’s state that bans irreversible gender transitioning treatments for minors in the case United States v. Skrmetti, the demand for such treatments across the nation will also see a halt.
Skrmetti made the remarks during an exclusive sit down interview with The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy on Friday while discussing the Supreme Court case challenging Tennessee’s SB1 law.
SB1, signed into law last year, forbids healthcare providers from performing or administering to underage children “gender-affirming” medical procedures or treatments – including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and sex-change surgeries – for the purpose of enabling the child to identify with the opposite gender.
Skrmetti said if the Supreme Court rules to uphold the state law, the ruling would set a precedent and “drive a lot of change” across other states as well, as medical and insurance providers will be mindful of potential legal challenges to such treatments.
“I think if we win our case, that’s a significant constitutional statement, but also on the ground, in the clinics, in the hospitals, it’s the litigation risk that’s going to drive a lot of change,” Skrmetti explained on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Noting a case in California in which a 20-year old biological female is suing a doctor for “fast tracking” her into transitioning to a male while she was a teenager, including undergoing a double mastectomy, Skrmetti said such cases, if successful bring about “massive settlements” that most providers seek to avoid.
“[Negligence claims like that] can be worth millions of dollars. If you’re talking about compromised fertility, loss of any sexual function, a jury could value that very highly. If the doctors are cutting corners and there’s reason to think that a good number of them were or if they knew that the guidelines were not soundly supported by evidence, or if there’s any sort of hole in the foundation of what they were doing, they’re in potentially a lot of financial trouble,” Skrmetti said.
“The insurance companies will be handling a lot of the decisions and trying to figure out how to essentially minimize the hit financially, but just the weight of having to deal with discovery obligations, the publicity, there’s a lot of downside for doctors who are putting themselves in a dangerous spot here,” Skrmetti added.
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “AG Jonathan Skrmetti” by AG Jonathan Skrmetti.
