Alabama can now enforce a law that would protect gender-confused minors from harmful puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and undergoing mutilating irreversible surgeries after a federal appeals court halted a preliminary injunction that had blocked enforcement of the 2022 law.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act will take effect while the full appellate court decides whether it will revisit the decision.
The court previously lifted a lower court’s injunction, but the decision was on hold while families with transgender children asked the full appellate court to reconsider.
As CBN News reported, the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act would penalize doctors and healthcare providers with up to 10 years in prison or a $15,000 fine, or both, if they prescribe puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to a person under the age of 19.
Lawyers representing parents of transgender adolescents originally challenged the ban on the grounds that “parents, not the government, are best situated to make these medical decisions for their children.”
The U.S. Department of Justice joined their lawsuit, seeking to overturn the law.
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