Story at a glance
- Two physicians and two families with transgender children are suing the state of Alabama to overturn a law that criminalizes providing gender-affirming care to trans or nonbinary youth.
- Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) on Friday signed the measure into law, stating her intention was to “protect our children.”
- The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Lambda Legal, the Transgender Law Center and the law firm Cooley LLP have also filed a lawsuit challenging the law.
Two physicians and two families with transgender children on Monday filed a lawsuit against the state of Alabama, challenging a new law that makes providing gender-affirming care to trans or nonbinary youth a felony, punishable by up to a decade in prison.
The complaint was filed Monday in federal court just three days after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) signed Senate Bill 184 into law. Under the law, which is set to take effect May 8, doctors in Alabama are prohibited from providing medications like puberty blockers or hormones or other gender-affirming interventions to trans and nonbinary people under the age of 19.
“I believe very strongly that if the Good Lord made you a boy, you are a boy, and if he made you a girl, you are a girl,” Ivey said Friday in a statement. “We should especially protect our children from these radical, life-altering drugs and surgeries when they are at such a vulnerable stage in life.”
The lawsuit names Ivey, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and two district attorneys as defendants.
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In a statement on Monday, physician Morissa Ladinsky, one of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs, said Ivey in signing the bill “has told kind, loving, and loyal Alabama families that they cannot stay here without denying their children the basic medical care they need.”
“She has undermined the health and well-being of Alabama children and put doctors like me in the horrifying position of choosing between ignoring the medical needs of our patients or risking being sent to prison,” Ladinsky, a pediatrician who treats transgender youth in Alabama, said.
Ladinsky and the other plaintiffs are represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Human Rights Campaign and the law firms King & Spalding LLP and Lightfoot, Franklin & White LLC, according to a news release.
Another plaintiff, identified pseudonymously as Robert Roe, is the father of a 13-year-old transgender girl, identified in the complaint as Mary Roe, who began taking puberty blockers last year. The lawsuit states that it is “essential” to Mary’s mental health and wellbeing that she continues to receive them.
“For Mary to be forced to go through male puberty would be devastating; it would predictably result in her experiencing isolation, depression, anxiety, and distress,” the lawsuit reads. “Mary’s parents are also concerned that without access to the puberty-blocking medication she needs, Mary would resort to self-harm as a means of coping with her psychological distress or even attempt suicide.”
A third plaintiff, John Doe, is a 17-year-old transgender boy living in Shelby County, Ala. With the support of his parents and health care providers, John began taking gender-affirming hormones roughly a year ago and has developed a deeper voice and grown facial hair.
But the appearance of John’s chest “continues to be a source of significant distress for him,” according to the lawsuit, and he is set to be scheduled for gender-affirming surgery later this year. If the law goes into effect, John will have to wait until he is 19 to undergo chest reconstruction surgery.
“Thus, if the Act is allowed to go into effect, it will lead to devastating physical and psychological consequences for John,” the lawsuit reads.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Lambda Legal, the Transgender Law Center and the law firm Cooley LLP on Monday also filed a lawsuit to overturn the new law.
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