Georgia will enforce gender-affirming care ban after judge backtracks

Atlanta, Georgia - A US judge on Tuesday has ruled that Georgia may resume enforcement of its ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, after a federal appeals court in Alabama allowed a similar law to go back into effect.

Opponents of a bill that would prevent medical professionals in Georgia from giving transgender minors certain hormones or surgical treatment protest in the state Capitol.
Opponents of a bill that would prevent medical professionals in Georgia from giving transgender minors certain hormones or surgical treatment protest in the state Capitol.  © IMAGO / ZUMA Wire

US District Judge Sarah Geraghty, a Biden appointee, issued a preliminary injunction last month temporarily blocking parts of a Georgia law that prohibit gender-affirming care for minors.

On Tuesday, she lifted that enforcement pause citing a case before the 11th Circuit of Appeals, which ruled two weeks ago that a similar ban could go forward in Alabama.

The Georgia law, Senate Bill 140, initially took effect on July 1. The legislation prevents new patients under the age of 18 from receiving hormone therapy and bans gender-affirming surgeries for minors.

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Parents with trans children sued the state government in June, arguing that the law violates their parental rights.

"Without an injunction, the middle-school age plaintiffs will be unable to obtain in Georgia a course of treatment that has been recommended by their health care providers in light of their individual diagnoses and mental health needs," Geraghty ruled in August, adding that plaintiffs would suffer "irreparable harm" if the law were not paused.

Now, the judge has stayed the injunction until a final decision is reached in the Alabama case.

Cover photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire

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