The decision came after a federal appeals court let Alabama apply a similar ban on transgender care for children.
On Tuesday, a judge said that Georgia can go back to following its ban on hormone replacement therapy for transgender youth. This means the judge’s earlier decision to stop the ban is no longer effective.
The decision comes after a federal appeals court last month said that nearby Alabama could enforce a similar rule and as Republican-led states across the country try to stop people under 18 from getting treatment to change their gender. At least 22 states have laws that limit or ban transgender care for children, and most of these states have been sued because of these laws.
Attorneys for the state of Georgia asked Judge Sarah Geraghty to remove the temporary order after the Alabama case ruling, which came a day after Geraghty’s first decision.
Geraghty didn’t go so far as to overturn her earlier decision. Still, she did say that she couldn’t keep her order in place after a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Georgia, ruled on Alabama’s law. Instead, the judge put her ban on hold so that a bigger group of judges could look at the Alabama case again.
Kara Richardson, a spokeswoman for the office of the Georgia attorney general, said in a statement that the office is happy with the decision and will keep working to protect the health and safety of Georgia’s children.
Attorneys for the claimants said they were unhappy “mostly for the families who can’t get the care they need in Georgia or make medical decisions based on what’s best for their children.” They also said that their fight in court was not over.
In Alabama’s case, the judge ruled that the state could ban puberty blockers and drugs for transgender children under 18.
Senate Bill 140 in Georgia lets doctors recommend medicine to stop puberty, and children already getting hormone treatment can keep getting it. But no one under 18 can start hormone treatment for the first time. The law, which went into force on July 1, also makes it illegal for transgender children to have most treatments that change their gender.
After a case was brought against the ban by parents of transgender children and a community group on August 20, Geraghty blocked the law with a preliminary order.
In her decision last month, the judge said that the ban put “imminent risks” in front of the transgender children who wanted the injunction, such as sadness, anxiety, eating disorders, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts. Geraghty said the risks were worse than any harm an order might do to the state.
The 11th Circuit judges who decided on Alabama’s law said that states have a “compelling interest” in keeping kids away from drugs, especially those whose effects can’t be undone and whose benefits aren’t clear.