An Alabama law banning giving cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers to children can take effect after a federal appeals court ruling.
The ruling from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals comes as over 20 states have passed laws banning transgender procedures on children. The court ruled that there was no constitutional right for children to be given sex-change procedures and that state legislatures had the right to make laws governing the procedures.
“The plaintiffs have not presented any authority that supports the existence of a constitutional right to ‘treat [one’s] children with transitioning medications subject to medically accepted standards,’” Judge Barbara Lagoa, a Trump appointee, wrote in her 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,” Lagoa added.
A group of parents with transgender-identifying children had sued Alabama after the state passed a law called the “Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act.”
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall celebrated the decision, saying it “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.”
“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 added.
The Left-wing Human Rights Campaign decried the ruling, claiming that the transgender procedures in question were “safe, effective, and life saving for some.”
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“We believe that at the end of the day, our nation’s courts will protect these vulnerable youth and block these harmful laws, which serve no purpose other than to prevent parents from obtaining the medical care their children need,” a statement from the HRC said.
Laws shielding children from sex-change operations have faced court challenges, with some being put on hold and ruled unconstitutional. A federal judge in Georgia this week blocked a law that prohibited children from being given cross-sex hormones, claiming that it likely violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution.
The ruling over the Alabama law follows another appeals court ruling in favor of a similar law. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed a Tennessee law to take full effect after a federal judge previously blocked portions of the law earlier this year.
