Transgender minors in Alabama can, for now, use medicine to transition, a federal judge has ruled in an order blocking part of a state ban on gender-affirming treatments.
The 13 May ruling, a preliminary injunction issued by US District Judge Liles Burke, was issued less than a week after the law went into effect on 8 May, reports Reuters.
The measure makes it a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison to provide or administer puberty blockers and hormone therapy to transgender and non-binary youth under 19. It also outlaws surgical treatments that experts say are extremely rare for minors.
Burke left in place the part of the law that bans sex-altering surgeries and other provisions prohibiting school officials from keeping certain gender-identity information secret from parents.
The lawsuit, brought by civil rights groups on behalf of four Alabama families, two physicians and a Minister, argues that the ban would cause “immediate and irreparable” harm to the plaintiffs and that the measure violates several of their constitutional rights.
The Department of Justice has joined the case, saying that the Alabama law violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.
“Never before has a state law mandated a choice between a potential felony conviction versus turning our back on the basic tenets of our Hippocratic oath,” said Morissa Ladinsky, a physician who co-runs a gender health clinic in Birmingham and a witness for the plaintiffs.
Major medical organisations and mental health professionals say transition-related medical care saves lives by reducing the risk of depression and suicide in transgender and non-binary individuals.
On 23 March, MedicalBrief reported that despite advice from numerous medical organisations, including the American Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Paediatrics, the proposed legislation and bans attempting to block transgender minors from accessing gender-affirming medical care could put the lives of tens of thousands of vulnerable US youngsters in jeopardy.
According to NPR, about 150,000 young Americans identify as transgender and more than 54,000 transitioning youth could be affected. The report added that conservative leaders in six states wanted to implement penalties for parents who facilitate minors’ access to gender-affirming medical care, while 10 states would also allow so-called bounty hunter lawsuits in which private citizens could file civil suits for damages against medical providers who violated the proposed laws.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
US moves to limit transgender treatments for young Americans
Texas sued to block investigations into parents over transgender surgery
UK to ban under-18s from surgery to change gender