(LifeSiteNews) — Indiana will continue to protect children against dangerous transgender drugs and surgeries after another successful defeat of the ACLU.
On September 11, a federal judge officially stopped the left-wing group’s lawsuit against Indiana for its law that prohibits surgical and chemical mutilation of minors. The legal battle started in April 2023. The ACLU won a preliminary injunction soon after that in June 2023, but then Indiana won at the Seventh Circuit in February 2024.
Attorney General Todd Rokita celebrated the decision by the ACLU to forfeit the case.
“Our commonsense law has already been in effect and protecting Hoosier children from these dangerous and irreversible procedures,” Rokita wrote in a statement.
“This just closes the challenge for good,” he added.
He called the decision a “critical win against radicals” who he accused of wanting to “impose this horrific practice on our kids for ideological and financial reasons.”
“We will keep standing between our children and those who would sacrifice their health, innocence, and well-being on the altar of woke gender ideology,” he promised.
🚨BREAKING: After more than three years, the ACLU’s challenge to Indiana’s ban on gender-transition procedures for minors is FINALLY over!
Today, a federal judge entered FINAL JUDGMENT for the State and dismissed the remaining claims with prejudice. Our office already beat the… pic.twitter.com/qpTepPvour
— AG Todd Rokita (@AGToddRokita) September 11, 2026
The Indiana law prohibits medical practitioners from giving puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to minors or committing “gender reassignment surgery” or other “gender transition procedures” on them.
Great news!
Radical far-left groups like the ACLU try to intimidate red states and localities against passing common sense laws that protect kids with endless costly lawsuits. This often works.
Thank you to AG Rokita for fighting for Hoosier children despite the obstacles! https://t.co/1pGPtSsHH5
— Nathan Roberts (@NathanIndiana1) September 11, 2026
“A physician or other practitioner may not aid or abet another physician practitioner in the provision of gender transition procedures of a minor,” SB 480 states, as previously reported by LifeSiteNews.
The state’s legal position was significantly strengthened by the 2025 Supreme Court decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti, which upheld a similar law in Tennessee.
Earlier this year, the ACLU of Indiana admitted that it had no legal avenue to continue the case.
In a notice to plaintiffs, the ACLU wrote, “given the decisions of the appeals court and the Supreme Court, it does not make sense to continue the case because these prior decisions are binding and conclusive as to the legal claims they resolved.”
“Therefore, we are proposing to dismiss the case,” a “Class Action Notice” stated.
The decision is the latest victory for gender-confused minors who will be protected from the procedures in Indiana.
Currently, 27 states have limited the harmful drugs and/or surgeries, according to the pro-LGBT Kaiser Family Foundation.
The consequences of the chemical and surgical procedures are significant, according to a large body of evidence and the testimony of so-called “detransitioners,” meaning those who once claimed to be the opposite sex.
These drugs can leave individuals permanently infertile (as would be expected with drugs meant to stop normal pubertal development) and have been linked to bone density loss, suicide risk, and other major medical problems.
Meanwhile, victims of the transgender mutilation industry have shared the mental anguish caused by the procedures.
Chloe Cole, for example, had her breasts removed at age 15. She since shared her regret about losing the ability to nurse any future children due to the unscrupulous action of so-called medical professionals.
“Instead of honoring my parents’ instincts to keep me safe, the doctors put me on a chemical castration drug to stop my puberty, followed by massive doses of testosterone to induce a fake male puberty,” she testified to a Senate committee earlier this year. “I’m almost 22 years old now. I have no breasts because they were replaced with scars.”