Last updated on March 5th, 2024 at 08:38 am
Following a federal appeals court ruling, Indiana is now allowed to uphold a law prohibiting minors from undergoing gender-transitioning treatment. The temporary injunction issued last year by a judge preventing the law from taking effect last summer has been lifted.
The decision was reached by a three-judge panel from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. The bill, signed by Republican Governor Eric Holcomb on April 5, 2023, was set to become law on July 1, 2023. However, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a lawsuit that led to the U.S. District Court Judge, James Patrick Hanlon, issuing the injunction.
Still, the law’s clause to ban gender-transitioning surgeries for minors proceeded. In contrast, the rulings against doctors communicating with out-of-state counterparts about transgender-related treatments for minors and minors from accessing hormone therapies and puberty blockers were halted.
The ACLU of Indiana considers the appeals court’s ruling a setback for transgender minors, their families, and medical practitioners and promised to keep challenging the law. However, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita commended the court’s decision, labeling it a victory against those advocating the ‘horrific practice’ for ideological and financial motives.
The ACLU had filed the lawsuit on behalf of a doctor offering gender-transitioning treatment and four minors undergoing the treatment, arguing that the ban gleaned from the new law infringes on the Constitution’s equal protection rights and negates parents’ rights to make their children’s medical decisions.
Twenty-two other states have also ratified such bans.
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