Federal Appeals Court Leaves Indiana’s Gender-Affirming Care Ban in Effect

The 7th?U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an Indiana law prohibiting transgender children and teens from receiving gender-affirming healthcare would remain in effect. The three-judge panel, rejecting an appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Indiana, affirmed their previous decision in February to lift a temporary injunction placed on the law by U.S.?District Court Judge James Patrick Hanlon, who allowed the law’s prohibitions on gender-affirming surgeries but blocked the state from prohibiting access to hormone therapy administered by healthcare providers.?

“This law takes away critical healthcare from a group of Hoosiers, leaving them and their parents in dire circumstances,” wrote the ACLU in their lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of four transgender children and their?families,?which?additionally?lambasted the law as “vast government overreach” in violation of the U.S. Constitution.?

Judge Michael Brennan disagreed,?stating?in his majority opinion that “[a]ppellees?ask us to constitutionalize and thus take from Indiana the power to regulate a new and heavily debated medical treatment with unknown risk.” He further wrote that “[i]f we hasten to set one side of the debate into constitutional stone, we will prevent Indiana from responding to tomorrow’s insights.”?Conversely,?Judge Candace Jackson-Akiwumi?dissented from the majority opinion,?arguing that allowing the law to remain in effect will?“intrude on the well-established province of parents to make medical decisions for their minor children.”?

Judge Brennan, however, wrote that these?parental rights?are?not so absolute as to allow them to demand access to medication simply because of a “well-meaning purpose.”?Writing that“[o]ur?Constitution is not so quick to act…by design, it provides a solution to just a few difficult questions and leaves the rest to the people. So will we.”

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita?quickly took to social media platform X to celebrate, saying that the court’s decision?“is?a huge win for Hoosiers and will help protect our most precious gift from God – our children.”?Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb?had previously signed the bill into law despite referring to it as?being?“clear as mud” the day prior. “By rejecting the injunction against our commonsense state law, dangerous and irreversible gender-transition procedures for minors will remain banned in Indiana,” wrote Attorney General Rokita.

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The national ACLU has not issued an official comment, but spokesperson Laura Forbes told the Associated Press the group was “weighing our options.” The majority of medical associations in the U.S. have opposed laws restricting gender-affirming care, which they say is medically necessary, even lifesaving, for transgender adults and minors.?

For more information on civil rights law, contact any of the qualified attorneys at Rock Fusco & Connelly, LLC.