Judge Lills Burke, in granting the initial injunction late Friday night requested by the Department of Justice and special prosecutors, said there was a good chance the court would find the law’s restrictions on the provision of transitional drugs, such as pubertal blockers, unconstitutional.
Other parts of the law remain in effect – including its ban on sex-change operations for minors and its regulations targeting school officials.
Lyles, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, wrote: “The defendants provide no credible evidence to prove that the transition drugs are ‘experimental.’” While the defendants provide some evidence that the transition drugs pose certain risks, the uncontested evidence is that what does not Less than twenty-two major medical societies in the United States endorse transitional medications as well-established, evidence-based treatments for sexual dysphoria in minors.”
The judge said that “parental plaintiffs have a fundamental right to direct the medical care of their children,” and found they were more likely to succeed in their due process claim. The judge also said that minors were likely to succeed in their claim for equal protection and that the “justifications given by the State of Alabama” for the law were “presumed and not very convincing.”
The Alabama law, called the Alabama Compassion and Protection of Vulnerable Children Act, was enacted last month and went into effect last week. By law, medical professionals who provide gender confirmation care to anyone under 19 can face up to 10 years in prison.
The law also prohibits school nurses, counsellors, teachers, principals, and other school officials from attempting to “encourage or compel” a minor to withhold “the fact that a minor’s perception of his or her sex is inconsistent with the minor’s sex” or from withholding that information from parents.
