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Idaho Gov. Little signed law criminalizing gender-affirming care for transgender minors

On April 4, 2023, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 71, the "Vulnerable Child Protection Act," making it a felony punishable by up to ten years in prison for a medical provider to give puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or gender-transition surgery to a person under 18 to affirm a gender identity differing from their birth sex. The law, codified as Idaho Code section 18-1506C, carved out narrow exceptions for intersex conditions and complications of prior treatment and took effect January 1, 2024, as Session Law Chapter 292.

Jurisdiction
Idaho
Location
Boise, Idaho

Abuses documented

Actors

On April 4, 2023, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 71, the "Vulnerable Child Protection Act," into law, adding Section 18-1506C to the Idaho Code. The statute makes it a felony, punishable by up to ten years in prison, for a medical provider to perform gender-transition surgery, prescribe puberty blockers, or administer supraphysiological doses of testosterone or estrogen to a person under 18 for the purpose of aligning the patient's body with a gender identity inconsistent with their biological sex. It provides narrow exceptions for children with medically verifiable intersex conditions and for the treatment of complications arising from prior gender-transition procedures.

The bill passed the Republican-controlled Idaho Legislature and was signed by Gov. Little, who said the state had a role in "protecting minors." The law took effect on January 1, 2024, and was recorded as Session Law Chapter 292. Puberty blockers and hormones for patients under 18 were banned outright; transition-related surgeries, which providers said were not part of Idaho's existing standard of care for minors and were not performed in the state, were also prohibited.

Updates

2023-12-26 — District court preliminarily enjoined the law statewide [4]

U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill granted a preliminary injunction in Poe v. Labrador, brought by two transgender teenagers and their parents, barring Idaho from enforcing any provision of House Bill 71 while the case proceeded. Winmill found the families had shown a strong likelihood of succeeding on their claim that the law violated the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection guarantee.

2024-01-30 — Ninth Circuit denied Idaho's request to stay the injunction [5]

A Ninth Circuit panel refused Attorney General Raúl Labrador's request to stay the district court's injunction while the state's appeal proceeded, leaving the statewide block on House Bill 71 in place.

2024-04-15 — Supreme Court narrowed the injunction to the two plaintiff families [6, 7]

The Supreme Court granted Idaho's application to stay the district court's injunction, by a 6-3 vote (Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson dissenting or noting they would have denied the stay), allowing the state to enforce House Bill 71 against all transgender minors statewide except the two plaintiffs, whose access to care remained protected pending the outcome of the underlying appeal.

2025-06-18 — Lawsuit voluntarily dismissed; ban became fully enforceable statewide [8, 9]

The plaintiff families voluntarily dismissed their remaining challenge to House Bill 71, ending the litigation and eliminating the last injunction protecting them from the law. Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador announced the Vulnerable Child Protection Act was now fully enforceable against all minors statewide.

Why we recorded this

Every person, including transgender youth and their families, is entitled to equal protection and to medical decisions made with their doctors rather than dictated by the state. Idaho used the criminal law to forbid an entire category of accepted medical care for one group of minors alone, threatening the physicians who provide it with a decade in prison. We record it because criminalizing care that targets people for who they are — and overriding the judgment of patients, parents, and clinicians with a felony statute — is a discriminatory use of government power against a marginalized community, and part of a broader wave of state laws restricting the rights of transgender Americans.

Sources

  1. House Bill 71 (2023) — status and legislative history — Idaho Legislature primary accessed July 16, 2026
  2. House Bill 71 — engrossed bill text (Vulnerable Child Protection Act, Idaho Code 18-1506C) — Idaho Legislature primary accessed July 16, 2026
  3. New law makes it a crime in Idaho to provide gender-affirming care to transgender youth — Idaho Capital Sun secondary accessed July 16, 2026
  4. Judge temporarily blocks enforcement of Idaho law on gender-affirming care for transgender youth — Idaho Capital Sun secondary accessed July 18, 2026
  5. Appeals Court Sides With Idaho Families and Transgender Youth — American Civil Liberties Union primary accessed July 18, 2026
  6. Docket for 23A763, Labrador v. Poe — Supreme Court of the United States primary accessed July 18, 2026
  7. U.S. Supreme Court allows Idaho to enforce gender care ban while lawsuit plays out — Idaho Capital Sun secondary accessed July 18, 2026
  8. AG Labrador Announces Idaho's Vulnerable Child Protection Act Now Fully Enforceable After Lawsuit Dismissal — Idaho Office of the Attorney General primary accessed July 18, 2026
  9. Idaho's youth gender-affirming care ban now fully enforceable after lawsuit dismissed — LocalNews8 / KIFI secondary accessed July 18, 2026

See also