A federal court has backed Indiana’s efforts to protect children in the state by ruling that officials can now legally enforce bans on gender “transition” treatments for minors.
The ruling is a major win for Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb and GOP lawmakers in the state.
A three-judge panel from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled to remove a temporary injunction issued by a judge last year.
The 2023 ruling kept the ban from going into effect last summer.
Two of the appeals court judges were appointed by Presidents Reagan and Trump.
The third judge was appointed by Democrat President Joe Biden.
All three of the judges back Indiana’s right to protect children from being put through life-altering transgender treatments.
The bill, which was signed by Gov. Holcomb on April 5, 2023, was set to become law on July 1, 2023.
However, the bill was blocked by a judge a month prior following a lawsuit filed by the far-left American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana.
U.S. District Court Judge James Patrick Hanlon issued the injunction.
The move by Hanlon halted the parts of the law prohibiting minors from accessing hormone therapies and puberty blockers and prohibiting Indiana doctors from communicating with out-of-state doctors about transgender-related treatments for minors.
The law’s ban on gender-transitioning surgeries for minors was still allowed to take effect, however.
On Tuesday, the ACLU of Indiana issued a written statement in response to the appeals court’s ruling, describing it as “heartbreaking” for “transgender minors,” their families, and doctors.
“As we and our clients consider our next steps, we want all the transgender youth of Indiana to know this fight is far from over,” the statement read.
“We will continue to challenge this law until it is permanently defeated and Indiana is made a safer place to raise every family.”
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita did not share those sentiments and praised the court’s decision in a Tuesday evening post on X.
“Our commonsense state law, banning dangerous and irreversible gender-transition procedures for minors, is now enforceable following the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeal’s newest order,” he wrote.
“We are proud to win this fight against the radicals who continue pushing this horrific practice on our children for ideological and financial reasons.”
The ACLU of Indiana filed the lawsuit last year on behalf of four minors undergoing “gender-transitioning” treatments and a doctor providing the procedures.
The organization argued that the ban violates the Constitution’s equal protection guarantees and strips parents of the right to make medical decisions for their children.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association, among other medical groups, claim minors can safely seek “gender-transitioning” treatments if they are being administered “properly.”
Representatives from the state’s only hospital-based “gender health” program at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis told legislators last year that doctors do not perform or provide referrals for genital surgeries for minors, according to The Associated Press.
The hospital was not involved in the lawsuit opposing the ban.
Twenty-two other states have also enacted laws restricting or banning gender-transitioning treatments for minors.
Those states are:
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Arizona
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- West Virginia.
The bans are in limbo in some of those states as a federal court ruled Arkansas’ ban is unconstitutional.
Temporary injunctions were also placed on the laws in Idaho and Montana.
