Alabama has asked a federal appeals court to lift an injunction blocking the enforcement of a law that criminalizes gender-affirming care for transgender youth — and it’s doing so by invoking the recent Supreme Court opinion that overturned the constitutional right to abortion.
Earlier this year, the state’s Republican governor, Kay Ivey, signed into law a controversial bill that punishes parents or legal guardians for making decisions about their trans children’s health care, and also threatens criminal prosecution and jail time to health care providers for offering — or even suggesting — medically necessary care to trans youth under the age of 19.
In May, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking parts of the law — which has been opposed by major health organizations in the U.S., including the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Medical Association — siding with parents who argued that the law violated their rights to direct their children’s medical care.
