An Ohio judge extended the temporary restraining order preventing House Bill 68 from taking effect at the request of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio, which filed a lawsuit challenging the bill last month.
House Bill 68 includes the SAFE Act, which prevents doctors from providing minors with gender-affirming care, and the Save Women’s Sports Act, which prevents biological males who identify as transgender from participating in girls’ and women’s sports.
On April 16, Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Holbrook granted the ACLU’s request that House Bill 68—which was set to take effect last week—be unenforceable for two weeks or until a hearing in the case is held.
Holbrook extended the temporary restraining order from Tuesday until May 20.
The Center for Christian Virtue, an Ohio-based group that has advocated for House Bill 68’s passage and implementation, expressed disappointment in the temporary restraining order’s extension. It said Holbrook chose to “regard activism over due process and the safety of children.”
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, the defendant in the lawsuit, filed an emergency motion with the Ohio Supreme Court last week arguing that Holbrook “overstepped his judicial authority by placing on hold the entirety of House Bill 68.”
Yost said the judge’s injunction in the case is “unlawful,” as it “applies to the entire state, rather than just the two plaintiffs who challenged the law in a lawsuit filed on March 26.”
The emergency motion requests that the state’s highest court narrow the injunction and order Holbrook to “act within the limits of his judicial authority.”
The ACLU filed its lawsuit on behalf of two families whose children are at risk of “losing critical, medically necessary healthcare” under House Bill 68.
The organization argues that gender-affirming care is “lifesaving healthcare used to treat those with gender dysphoria” and that House Bill 68 “violates four sections of the Ohio Constitution including the single-subject rule, the Health Care provision, the Equal Protection Clause, and the Due Course of Law provision.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
