For about a week in May, Alabama had the harshest anti-transgender law in the U.S. Any doctor who prescribed puberty blockers or hormone therapy to people under the age of 18 could face felony charges, spend up to 10 years in prison and pay a $15,000 fine. Physicians scrambled to refill their patients’ prescriptions before the law kicked in; parents started contemplating plans to relocate their families out of state.
A federal judge has since issued an injunction on the medication ban. But it was a brief preview of what conservative lawmakers are increasingly pushing for across the country. A Bloomberg News analysis found at least 40 similar bills proposed in around two-dozen Republican-controlled states that would sharply limit or outright ban gender-affirming and transition-related health care, often specifically for minors.
One draft law in Georgia would punish any doctor that prescribes puberty blockers to a minor with up to 10 years in prison; another in North Carolina would fine physicians $1,000 per occurrence for doing the same. In Mississippi, a bill would limit health insurance coverage for transgender health care services.
