11th Circuit Reinstates Alabama Law That Makes Giving Puberty Blockers and Hormone Drugs to Minors a FELONY

Governor Kay Ivey of Alabama signed a bill called Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act into law in 2022, which banned doctors from giving puberty blockers or hormone treatments to people under 19 or performing genital mutilating surgery on them.

Legislators also barred schools from keeping “gender identity” information from parents or encouraging children to do the same.

If doctors or school officials violate the law, they could be charged with a felony and face up to 10 years in prison.

Two plaintiffs (minors) filed lawsuits. A lower court issued a temporary injunction against one provision of the legislation: section 4(a)(1)–(3), which bans puberty blockers and hormone treatments for minors. The court ruled that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on this claim. The court kept the other provisions in place.

The plaintiffs argued that section 4(a)(1)–(3) denied them equal protection. The lower court agreed and determined that gender nonconformity fell under the “on the basis of sex” classification — protected under federal law.

Leftists have attempted to redefine “sex” to include “gender identity” and sexual orientation. The U.S. Congress has not amended federal law to redefine the word sex.

Alabama appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. A three-judge panel sided with the state and reinstated the puberty-blocker and hormone-treatment provision.

“On review, we hold that the district court abused its discretion in issuing this preliminary injunction because it applied the wrong standard of scrutiny,” the panel stated (PDF).

The proper standard of scrutiny applied to the provision, according to the 11th Circuit, was “rational basis,” not “strict scrutiny,” because being denied puberty blockers and hormone treatments as a minor is not a fundamental right the law burdens.

The 11th Circuit disagreed with the plaintiffs and the lower court on the equal protection claim that the law classifies on the basis of sex “when in reality the law simply reflects real, biological differences between males and females and equally restricts the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormone treatment for minors of both sexes.”