Alabama may enforce its ban on gender-transition drugs and surgeries for minors after a federal appeals court lifted a lower court’s block on the 2022 law as the hot-button issue moves from the state legislatures to the legal system.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled Monday in favor of Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and Attorney General Steve Marshall, who were sued by a group of families challenging the state law banning puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for those under 19.
Judge Barbara Lagoa, a Trump appointee, said the case “revolves around an issue that is surely of the utmost importance to all of the parties involved: the safety and wellbeing of the children of Alabama.”
“But it is complicated by the fact that there is a strong disagreement between the parties over what is best for those children,” said the judge in the 59-page opinion. “Absent a constitutional mandate to the contrary, these types of issues are quintessentially the sort that our system of government reserves to legislative, not judicial, action.”
Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Sarah Geraghty, a Biden appointee, blocked enforcement Sunday of a similar Georgia law passed in March pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by parents of children who identify as the opposite sex.
“Considering the record evidence as discussed at length in previous sections of this order, the Court determines that the imminent risks of irreparable harm to Plaintiffs flowing from the ban — including risks of depression, anxiety, disordered eating, self-harm, and suicidal ideation — outweigh any harm the State will experience from the injunction,” Judge Geraghty said. “For the minor plaintiffs, time is of the essence.”
Twenty-one states have passed restrictions on gender-transition treatment for minors, setting up legal fights pitting parental rights and anti-discrimination claims against the state’s interest in protecting children from potentially harmful and irreversible medical procedures.
In Alabama, Mr. Marshall said the ruling will soon allow the state to enforce the Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, which was hit with a temporary injunction in May 2022 by the U.S. District Court.
The law signed in April 2022 by Ms. Ivey makes it a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison for doctors to treat those under 19 with gender-transition drugs and surgeries.
“The Eleventh Circuit reinforced that the State has the authority to safeguard the physical and psychological wellbeing of minors, even if the United States Attorney General and radical interest groups disapprove,” said Mr. Marshall, the state’s attorney-general.
“Alabama takes this responsibility seriously by forbidding doctors from prescribing minors sex-modification procedures that have permanent and often irreversible effects. This is a significant victory for our country, for children, and for common sense,” he said.
BREAKING NEWS | AG Marshall Victorious in Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Injunction Against Law Protecting Children From Experimental Sex-Modification Procedures to be Vacatedhttps://t.co/L1E7YenxBc pic.twitter.com/H3Tlf34o1y
— Attorney General Steve Marshall (@AGSteveMarshall) August 21, 2023
The lawsuit filed by four families with children who identify as the opposite sex challenged the prohibitions on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, not gender-transition surgeries. The trial is scheduled to begin in April.
Attorney Jeff Doss said the families were “disappointed in today’s decision,” and would consider all available options, “including further appellate review.”
A coalition of legal groups led by the National Center for Lesbian Rights called the decision “a deeply disappointing decision that is difficult to reconcile with the 11th Circuit’s prior rulings.”
“Our clients are devastated by this decision, which leaves them vulnerable to what the district court — after hearing several days of testimony from parents, doctors, and experts - found to be irreparable harm as a result of losing the medical care they have been receiving and that has enabled them to thrive,” said the groups in a joint statement.
Concurring with Judge Lagoa were Judges Andrew Brasher and J.P. Boulee, also nominated by former President Donald Trump.
Ryan Bangert, Alliance Defending Freedom senior vice president of strategic initiatives, said that Alabama is “right to protect minors from harmful, irreversible, and experimental medical procedures that can permanently alter children’s bodies without any proven long-term benefit.”
• This article was based in part on wire-service reports.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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