Judge stops Kansas law restricting transgender youth health care

A Kansas judge temporarily blocked the state from enforcing a ban on gender-affirming care for youth, ruling that a legal challenge arguing the law violates parental rights is likely to succeed.

Douglas County District Judge Carl Folsom issued an injunction on the law, saying a lawsuit challenging the statute under the Kansas Constitution has a strong likelihood of prevailing, according to The Topeka Capital-Journal.

“This temporary injunction is not a final determination of any claim," Folsom wrote in a decision. "But it is intended to prevent the Plaintiffs from suffering irreparable injury during the pendency of this lawsuit while the Plaintiffs' claims are being litigated."

The injunction does not strike down the law outright, but it means the statute cannot be enforced while the legal challenge moves forward. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said he is appealing the decision.

Related: Kansas GOP overrides governor’s veto to enact sweeping ban on all gender-affirming care for trans kids

“This is a stark example of judicial activism,” Kobach said in a statement. "The judge invented a new constitutional right out of whole cloth. Even though the Kansas Constitution says nothing about it, the judge created a new right of parents to obtain otherwise-illegal treatments for their children.”

The Kansas Legislature in 2025 passed the prohibition on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, overriding a veto by Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly. The so-called “Help Not Harm Act” criminalized providing such care, restricted the use of state funds for treatment, and imposed harsh penalties on providers.

The statute blocks access to puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and transition-related surgeries for minors, and has been decried as one of the most expansive bans on transgender health care in the country.

The injunction does not apply to restrictions on surgery, as the Kansas plaintiffs challenging the law did not include that provision in their lawsuit. Surgery is rarely offered to minor patients.

But Folsom, who was appointed to the bench by Kelly in 2022, found the law likely infringes on the fundamental rights of parents to make decisions about their children’s health care, rights he said are protected under the Kansas Constitution.

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"Section 1 of the Kansas Bill of Rights protects the fundamental right of parents to the care, custody, and control of their children, which includes the right to consent to medical care that their children need and desire and which is recommended by a clinician," the judge wrote.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs praised the injunction.

“This is an enormous relief to our clients and families across the state of Kansas,” said Harper Seldin, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Kansas’ LGBT & HIV Rights Project.

“The medical care unjustly banned by this law serves as the foundation of young transgender people’s entire lives and helps give them the future all young people deserve. Any decision about this medical care should be between families and their doctors, and today’s order from the court restores that fundamental principle. We will continue to challenge this law until Kansas is a safe place to raise every family.”