The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday allowed a Florida lawsuit accusing the American Academy of Pediatrics and other defendants of misleading the public about transgender procedures to proceed.
Florida’s lawsuit, filed in December 2025, alleges that the American Academy of Pediatrics, along with the World Professional Organization of Transgender Medicine and the Endocrine Society, violated Florida laws prohibiting deceptive and unfair trade practices and racketeering.
Among its lawsuit’s specific claims are that these organizations misled the public about the evidence for the efficacy of transgender medicine and falsely argued that puberty blockers were reversible:
“Defendants have made false and misleading representations and omissions about the safety, reversibility, and efficacy of sex interventions in Florida and St. Lucie County in particular through many mediums, including their websites, publications, and public statements, and through their members.
“Specifically, Defendants continue to falsely advertise that: (1) there is credible evidence demonstrating that sex interventions mitigate gender dysphoria and suicidality, (2) puberty blockers are fully reversible, and (3) their guidelines are ‘evidence-based.’”
The lawsuit also alleges that these organizations prey upon the vulnerable for profit:
“Defendants’ reprehensible and immoral actions capitalize on the mental distress of children—as well as the natural affections and fears their parents—to help their members sell lucrative surgeries and drugs that irreversibly mutilate and chemically alter children’s bodies without providing any credible medical benefit.”
In response, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) sued the Florida Attorney General in federal court, denying the original allegations, and alleging in turn that the original suit was purely political in nature and an attempt to deny it of its first amendment rights:
“Unable to prevail in the marketplace of ideas, the AG is abusing the powers of his office to impose state-sanctioned medical orthodoxy.”
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“In filing the Retaliatory Action, the AG crossed from permissible political activity into unconstitutional, coercive use of state power against AAP.”
Northern Illinois Federal District court last June placed an injunction against the Florida legal proceedings, pausing them until AAP’s federal suit was resolved. On Wednesday, the 7th Circuit lifted the injunction, allowing Florida to proceed in its original lawsuit.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier celebrated the decision on X:
“CA7 Saw right through the Chicago-based district court’s attempt to stop our lawsuit against AAP for their deception on the safety of mutilating procedures on kids and removed every barrier the court tried to put up.”
“This is a huge win for states’ rights and parents’ ability to protect their child!” Indiana Attorney General Todd Ritka agreed in a separate post on X.
