Dr. Michelle Cretella, of Advocates Protecting Children, says the recent court decision that upheld Indiana's ban on sex-change procedures follows similar laws that were upheld in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Florida.
“It was the third appeals court to allow this banning of harmful puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and mutilating surgeries on children,” Cretella, a pediatrician and medical activist, tell AFN.
In the most recent ruling, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to fully dissolve a lower court’s injunction that blocked portions of Indiana’s law pertaining to puberty blockers and hormones for children, according to a related article by Liberty Counsel.
The new law came from a Senate bill, SEA 480, that was passed in 2023.
Despite a string of court wins, the final outcome of the state laws is expected to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court next summer. That is because the high court is hearing an appeal this week that is challenging Tennessee's law.
Medical website lists 72 genders
Body-altering surgeries, puberty blockers and hormones are frequently referred to by transgender advocates as “gender-affirming care” for people who believe they can “transition” from male to female, or vice versa, with help from willing medical professionals.
That obsession over choosing a new gender identity has now grown to a list of 72 made-up names, according to the website Medicine.net.
Opponents of the medical procedures call it “gender manipulation” because innocent children as young as kindergartners are being influenced by everyone from school teachers and school counselors to pediatricians.
Parents, meanwhile, are often viewed as unwilling obstacles to a child’s “transition” and have been kept in the dark if they live in liberal communities and school districts.
Judge cites 'mental health care' in law
Writing for the majority in the 7th Circuit ruling, Judge Michael Brennan defended Indiana’s law and rejected the legal claim the law violates First Amendment rights and Equal Protection claims.
The judge’s ruling also points out “mental health care” for minors is allowed in the law. Such a reference to mental health is rarely acknowledged by transgender advocates who rely more on bumper-sticker slogans to win support and accusations of "transphobia" to defeat the opponents.
The new Indiana law, Brennan wrote, “is focused on the medically induced part of a gender transition, which is the part of the transitioning process Indiana believes is too dangerous and novel to be left unregulated.”
According to Cretella, the other side keeps losing court battles but will not give up soon.
"The pro sterilization-mutilation activists will not go away quietly,” she predicts, “because this is a highly, highly profitable industry.”
