Angered that Alabama has put a roadblock in the way of children receiving “gender transition” treatments, the Department of Justice has hit the state with a lawsuit.
State Bill 184 makes its purpose clear: “to prohibit the performance of a medical procedure or the prescription of medication, upon or to a minor child, that is intended to alter the minor child’s gender or delay puberty.”
But in the eyes of the Biden administration, adhering to biology is “discrimination based on gender identity.”
In a news release about its effort to squash the Alabama law, the Justice Department said the measure “denies necessary medical care to children based solely on who they are, and that threatens criminal prosecution and jail time to doctors, parents, and anyone else who provides or ‘causes’ that care.
“The United States’ complaint alleges that the new law’s felony ban on providing certain medically necessary care to transgender minors violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. The department is also asking the court to issue an immediate order to prevent the law from going into effect.”
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall defended the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act and said the Biden administration “has chosen to prioritize leftist politics at the expense of Alabama’s children,” KLTV-TV reported.
“As we will show in this case, DOJ’s assertion that these treatments are ‘medically necessary’ is ideologically-driven disinformation. The science and common sense are on Alabama’s side. We will win this fight to protect our children,” Marshall said in a statement.
The law makes it a Class C felony for doctors to prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to anyone under the age of 19. It also prevents schools from keeping parents in the dark about their child’s “gender identity,” according to the Montgomery Advertiser.
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Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed SB 184 in early April.
“There are very real challenges facing our young people, especially with today’s societal pressures and modern culture,” Ivey said at the time.
“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 the law was meant to protect children from “radical, life-altering drugs and surgeries when they are at such a vulnerable stage in life,” NBC News reported.
Republican state Rep. Wes Allen agreed.
“It’s about protecting these minors,” he said, according to Al.com. “It’s not about adults, but it’s about those minors. Their minds are not fully developed to make these decisions on these medications and surgeries.”
Allen has been fighting for the passage of laws similar to SB 184 since 2020.
“I was shocked when I found out doctors in Alabama were prescribing these types of drugs to children,” Allen said as he began his campaign to pass the law, according to Al.com.
“This is something you hear about happening in California or New York, but it is happening right here in Alabama and it’s time we put a stop to that practice.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
