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Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is asking the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the preliminary injunction entered against a new Indiana law banning gender transition care for minors.
The notice of appeal was filed Tuesday in K.C., et al. v. The Individual Members of the Medical Licensing Board of Indiana, in their official capacities, et al., docketed in the 7th Circuit as Case No. 23-2366.
Last month, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana Judge James P. Hanlon partially granted a preliminary injunction against Senate Enrolled Act 480 a few weeks before it would have taken effect on July 1. The law would ban physicians from providing gender transition procedures for minors, and from aiding or abetting another physician to do so.
In the order partially granting the preliminary injunction, Hanlon acknowledged the state has a “strong interest in enforcing democratically enacted laws. And Defendants have shown that there are important reasons underlying the State’s regulation of gender transition procedures for minors.”
However, he also said the plaintiffs carried their burden of showing a likelihood of success on their claims.
“Under the evidence available at this preliminary stage, there is not a ‘close means–end fit’ between the State’s important reasons for regulating the provision of gender transition procedures to minors and S.E.A. 480’s broad ban of those procedures,” Hanlon wrote. “So, when the State’s interests are weighed against the likelihood that Plaintiffs will be able to show that S.E.A. 480 would violate their constitutional rights and the risk of irreparable harm, Plaintiffs are entitled to a preliminary injunction.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs, declined to comment on the appeal.
In a statement posted to Twitter, Rokita said, “My office is fighting for young Hoosiers in several cases, ranging from defense of our new law prohibiting gender transition procedures for minors to ensuring parents have a say in their child’s education. Today’s appeal in K.C. v. Medical Licensing Board of Indiana is yet another example of our undeterred dedication to protecting the children of this state.
“The first priority for any parent should be their child’s health and wellbeing,” he continued. “Cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers for minors do not align with this principle and can cause permanent, irreversible damage.”
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