The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has lifted a lower court's injunction on Alabama enforcing its ban on puberty blockers and hormones being given to those under 19 years old.
The law was signed by Governor Kay Ivey in 2022, but it never went into effect because the state has been barred from enforcing the ban for over a year.
In 2022, U.S. District Judge Liles C. Burke ruled that the state did not provide "credible evidence" that puberty blockers and hormones were "experimental."
The decision was reversed by a three-judge panel for the 11th Circuit in August.
“The use of these medications in general — let alone for children — almost certainly is not ‘deeply rooted’ in our nation’s history and tradition,” the ruling said.
The Hill reports:In November, attorneys for Alabama also requested that the 11th Circuit stay the enforcement of the district court’s preliminary injunction, which the court granted Thursday in a brief unsigned order.
A September request for a rehearing made by the Alabama families challenging the law is still pending, and a full trial on the constitutionality of the ban is slated for August.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall celebrated Thursday’s ruling as “a significant victory for our country, for children, and for common sense.”
“The physical and psychological safety of our children can now be better protected from these untested and life-altering chemical and surgical procedures through the implementation of the Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act,” Marshall said in a statement on Thursday. “This is a significant victory for our country, for children, and for common sense.”
Lawyers representing the families of transgender youth, who initiated the lawsuit, claimed that the ruling will "harm thousands of transgender adolescents across the state."
“Alabama’s transgender healthcare ban will harm thousands of transgender adolescents across the state and will put parents in the excruciating position of not being able to get the medical care their children need to thrive,” the National Center for Lesbian Rights, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement obtained by The Hill.
A trial is scheduled for August 2024 to determine whether or not the law is constitutional.
