A federal court has dismissed an ACLU case challenging an Indiana law that bans gender transition medical care for minors.

The case was brought on behalf of four transgender youth and their families against Indiana’s Senate Enrolled Act 480 in 2023. SEA 480 banned access to gender-affirming procedures such hormone replacement therapy, puberty blockers, and surgeries for transgender people under age 18.

The lawsuit alleged that the law violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, as well as federal requirements of the Medicaid Act and the Affordable Care Act.

The ACLU’s primary constitutional challenge was dropped after the landmark 2025 Supreme Court case U.S. v. Skrmetti. That decision established that state bans on gender-affirming care for minors do not discriminate on the basis of sex or transgender status.

This week’s dismissal formally ends the ACLU of Indiana’s case and prevents those claims from being re-filed.

In a press release, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said, “My office will keep standing between our children and those who would sacrifice their health, innocence, and well-being on the altar of woke gender ideology.”

Ken Falk, the ACLU of Indiana’s legal director, said the dismissal has been devastating for Hoosier families with transgender children.

“The testimony in this case from parents as they were fighting to maintain care for their children stressed how vitally important this care was to the mental and physical health of the kids,” Falk said.

Falk said federal law around transition care for minors would have to change before Indiana’s law could be challenged again.

Puberty blockers and hormone therapy are still available in Indiana to children with conditions unrelated to gender dysphoria.