A federal appeals court will hear arguments in November over Alabama’s efforts to outlaw the use of transgender medications for minors.
In April, the Alabama Legislature passed the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, which made it a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison to perform surgeries or prescribe any transgender drugs to individuals under the age of 19.
The Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has set arguments for the week of Nov. 14 in Montgomery.
U.S. District Judge Liles Burke put a partial block on the law in May, allowing the ban on surgeries to stay in place but preventing the state from banning medications. Burke also removed any criminal penalties for those who prescribe or provide the medication.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed an appeal almost immediately after Liles’s injunction.
In Alabama’s appeal, it cited the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on abortion in Dobbs v. Jacksons Women’s Health Organization, invoking the majority opinion that argues that unenumerated constitutional rights — those not explicitly mentioned in the document — must be “deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions.”
Marshall also led a 19-state brief to help Arkansas appeal a law that was nearly identical to Alabama’s.
Marshall said in his brief, “If anyone spent just a little bit of time with the scientific literature in this area, they would quickly learn that science is largely unsettled; nearly everyone agrees that far more research is needed; and the currently popular approach to care in the United States is not supported by well-researched evidence-based studies.
“…Yet the evidence also shows that nearly all children whose gender dysphoria is treated with puberty blockers to ‘buy time’ will proceed to take cross-sex hormones and seek medical interventions with irreversible, life-long consequences such as infertility, loss of sexual function, increased risk of heart attack and stroke, bone density problems, risk of brain development issues, social harms from delayed puberty, and mental health concerns.”
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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