ATLANTA, Georgia (LifeSiteNews) — Alabama can protect gender-confused children from harmful surgical and chemical interventions while a court case unfolds, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday. The decision allows the state’s Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act to remain in place. The act outlaws “prescribing or administering” hormones and puberty blockers to gender-confused minors under age 19 and also bans sterilizing “sex change” surgeries and other procedures to remove “healthy or non-diseased body part[s] or tissue” of a child, as previously reported by LifeSiteNews. Judge Barbara Lagoa, a Trump appointee, ruled “the district court abused its discretion in issuing this preliminary injunction because it applied the wrong standard of scrutiny.” A district court originally blocked the law’s enforcement in May 2022. “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,’” the judge ruled.
Judge Lagoa noted that the federal government’s own witness, Dr. Armand H. Antommaria, admitted “[t]here are risks involved in the treatment course for the treatment of gender dysphoria,” during a court hearing.
“He went on to note that, for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones generally, there is a risk of impaired fertility, and that, for estrogen therapy, there is a risk of change in sexual function,” the judge wrote. Dr. Antom maria said that more research is needed in healthcare in general.
A Christian legal nonprofit praised the decision.
“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,” Alliance Defending Freedom’s Ryan Bangert stated in a news release.
“Children suffering discomfort with their sex are best served by compassionate mental health care,” Bangert stated. “Even the far-from-impartial World Professional Association for Transgender Health has admitted that the overwhelming majority of children will naturally resolve their dysphoria as they mature.”
ADF criticized “activist groups and professionals with large financial interests” who “continue to push harmful puberty-blockers, potentially sterilizing cross-sex hormones, and irreversible surgeries upon children too young to understand the long-term implications for their lives.”
“The 11th Circuit rightly agreed that Alabama is free to implement laws that protect vulnerable children and give them time to flourish,” Bangert stated. “We commend Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall for his work protecting Alabama’s children, and ADF looks forward to continuing to support him and his office in their noble efforts.”
Pro-homosexual advocacy groups, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Human Rights Campaign, and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, criticized the ruling.
The ruling comes as Republican-led states work to protect children from the permanent and irreversible damage of the surgical and chemical interventions.
However, not all Republican leaders, even among presidential candidates, oppose the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.
Aligned with the radical LGBT and leftist groups mentioned above are former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who opposes limits on transgender drugs and surgeries, and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, who opposes permanent surgical alterations but not chemical ones (even though those are permanent).
Meanwhile, former Vice President Mike Pence said he is “libertarian” on the issue when it comes to adults.