A Montana law banning hormone treatment and other medical care for transgender minors has been temporarily blocked, a state judge ruled Wednesday, just four days before it was set to take effect.

The legislative debate over Montana’s bill captured national attention this spring after Republicans defeated Democratic Rep. had punished Zooey Zephyr, the first transgender woman elected to the state legislature, for admonishing lawmakers who supported the bill.

District Court Judge Jason Marks agreed with transgender youth, their families and healthcare providers that the law passed by the 2023 Montana Legislature is likely unconstitutional and would harm the mental and physical health of minors with gender dysphoria, rather than them to protect against experimental treatments, as supporters said they would.

The judge noted that the same Republican-controlled legislature passed a law stating that patients, including minors, have the right to treatment with experimental drugs as long as it is recommended by a health care provider and they consent.

Marks said he could only conclude that the Legislature’s intent in passing the law was disingenuous and that it seemed more likely that its purpose was to prohibit an outcome that the Montana Legislature deemed undesirable considered disguised as protection for minors.

Today’s ruling allows our clients to breathe a sigh of relief, Akilah Deernose, executive director of the ACLU of Montana, said in a statement. But this battle is far from over. We look forward to defending our clients’ constitutional rights and ensuring this hateful law never goes into effect.

The preliminary injunction will remain in effect until a full trial on the matter can take place, but the Justice Department said it will appeal the order.

We look forward to presenting our full factual and legal argument to protect Montana children from harmful, life-altering drugs and surgeries. Due to the irreversible and immediate harm the procedures have on children, we will be filing an appeal today, spokesperson Emilee Cantrell said in a statement.

Montana is one of at least 22 states that have passed bans on such medical care for transgender minors, and lawsuits are pending in most of them. Some bans have been temporarily blocked by courts, while others have come into effect. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to rule this week on gender-affirming medical care bans that were allowed to take effect in Kentucky and Tennessee.

In the case of Montana, transgender youth argued that the law would prohibit them from continuing to receive gender-affirming medical care, violating their constitutional rights to equal protection, the right to health, and the right to dignity.

Their parents said the law would violate their constitutional right to make medical decisions for their children, and two medical providers said it would prevent them from providing effective and necessary care to their patients.

The Montana ban is a direct attack on the freedom and well-being of transgender youth, their families and their medical providers, Malita Picasso, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a recent statement.

The law attempted to ban the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical treatments for gender dysphoria, while still allowing cisgender minors to receive puberty blockers to treat early puberty or surgical procedures to treat intersex conditions.

Treatments for gender dysphoria meet standards of care approved by major medical organizations, including the American Medical Assn. and the American Academy of Pediatrics, the ACLU argued in its complaint.

Leaving the ban in place would cause irreparable harm to transgender minors undergoing treatment, in part by exacerbating the anxiety and depression they feel because their bodies do not conform to their gender identity, Picasso argued during a September 18 hearing before the preliminary injunction. .

The state countered that the beginning of the treatments put transgender children on a “path of no return” and continued medical treatment.

A child cannot possibly consent to treatment that permanently and irreversibly alters secondary sexual characteristics, nor can a child consent to future infertility and sterilization, future sexual dysfunction and a lifetime of hormone treatments and other forms of medicalization and resulting complications.

Attorney General Aty. Gene.

Michael Russell argued.

Zephyr said Wednesday that Republicans who voted for the ban did not listen to the medical community or families of transgender children who tested during legislative committee hearings that gender-affirming care is lifesaving care, and silenced her for speaking out against the legislation .

But now, five months after the Legislature adjourned, the ruling is out and they must listen to the courts,” Zephyr said in a statement.