The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Indiana’s law prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors can stay in place.  
  
In a 2-1 decision on Nov. 13, the federal appeals court vacated a temporary injunction issued by a federal judge in Indianapolis and remanded the case for further proceedings. The law, enacted in 2023 as Senate Enrolled Act 480, bans Hoosier physicians and other health care practitioners from providing gender transition procedures to minors.

Judge James Patrick Hanlon issued an injunction on June 16, 2023, preventing most of the law from taking effect as scheduled on July 1 of that year.

The injunction blocked the state from prohibiting minors’ access to hormone therapies and puberty blockers but allowed the law’s prohibition on gender-affirming surgeries to take effect. The order also blocked provisions of the law that would prohibit Indiana doctors from communicating with out-of-state doctors about gender-affirming care for their patients younger than 18.

The law has been in full effect since Feb. 27, when the 7th Circuit stayed the district court’s injunction while it considered the case.

The Associated Press reported that more than 20 states have enacted laws restricting or banning such treatments since 2021.

Read the 7th Circuit’s published opinion >>