(CNN) — A federal appeals court gave Florida the green light Monday to begin enforcing for now state restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors and adults. A federal judge in the state had ruled in June that the restrictions were unconstitutional, with the judge broadening a block he previously placed on them as part of a legal challenge brought by transgender Floridians and their parents. But in a 2-1 decision, a panel from the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals paused the judge’s ruling, allowing the state to start enforcing the 2023 law while the court determines the measure’s legality.
“Florida ‘will suffer irreparable harm from its inability to enforce the will of its legislature, to further the public-health considerations undergirding the law, and to avoid irreversible health risks to its children,’” Circuit Judges Britt Grant and Robert Luck, both of whom were appointed by former President Donald Trump, wrote in the ruling. The judges said the lower court had used too high a standard when it reviewed the law, hinting at the possibility that they could uphold the restrictions under a less rigorous legal standard. The law prohibits doctors and nurses from prescribing medication, including hormones or puberty blockers, to anyone under 18.
It also provides new restrictions on access to gender-affirming care for trans adults and minors who are already undergoing such treatment by mandating that it only be provided by a physician. The measure requires .