Associated Press, KIM CHANDLER
A federal appeals court ruled on Thursday that Alabama can soon start enforcing a ban on the use of hormones and puberty blockers to treat transgender people under the age of 19, granting the government’s request to keep an initial injunction that had prevented the 2022 law from being enforced.
Families with trans children petitioned the entire appellate court to overturn the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ earlier ruling that the order should be vacated. The restrictions will remain in place until the whole court decides whether to overturn its ruling on Thursday.
The order was referred to as a “major victory for our state, for children, and for common sense” by state Attorney General Steve Marshall.
Through the application of the Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, Marshall stated that “our children’s physical and psychological safety can now be better protected from these unproven and potentially harmful substances and medical techniques.”
The restrictions did “harm parents and children in the state,” according to attorneys representing families of transgender kids who challenged it.
According to a joint declaration from GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Human Rights Campaign, Alabama’s restrictions on transgender medical care did harm thousands of these teenagers across the state and put parents in an agonizing status of being unable to provide for their children.
Governor of Alabama, Kay Ivey, signed into law The Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act in 2022, which makes treating patients under the age of 19 with hormones or puberty blockers illegal and subject to a 10-year jail sentence.
Numerous states have passed legislation restricting or outlawing gender-affirming health care for transgender adolescents, and many of them are currently subject to legal action or have had their enforcement thwarted. A federal judge in Arkansas overturned the nation’s earliest rules after claiming that the ban violated the rights of young transgender people and their families. Courts have issued conflicting decisions.
The government’s restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors, which a lower judge allowed to go into effect, have been challenged by lawyers for Tennessee transgender youth and their households. If the court will hear the case, a decision is anticipated later this year.
The Alabama law was criticized by four families with trans children between the ages of 12 and 17 for violating their right to free speech and equal protection, as well as for interfering with their ability to make family medical decisions. In an effort to overturn the legislation, the U.S. Department of Justice joined their lawsuit.
When issuing the initial order, U.S. District Judge Liles Burke, who was appointed to the court by then-President Donald Trump in 2017, ruled that Alabama had not produced any convincing evidence to support the idea that transitioning drugs are “experimental.” Alabama filed an appeal with the 11th Circuit regarding the ruling. The Alabama restrictions challenge is expected to go to trial at the beginning of this year.
