Justice Dept files a challenge to Alabama transgender law

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday challenged an Alabama law making it a felony for doctors to treat transgender people under age 19 with puberty-blockers and hormones to help affirm their new gender identity.

The department's motion seeks to intervene in an ongoing lawsuit challenging the law as unconstitutional and seeking to block it from taking effect on May 8.

The action comes after the department sent a letter to all 50 state attorneys general warning that blocking transgender and nonbinary youth from receiving gender-affirming care could be an infringement of federal constitutional protections.

Doctors and others would face up to 10 years in prison for violating the Alabama law. Trans youth and parents have said Alabama is trying to ban what they consider necessary, and sometimes life-saving care for them.

“The law discriminates against transgender minors by unjustifiably denying them access to certain forms of medically necessary care," the complaint states. “As a result of S.B. 184, medical professionals, parents, and minors old enough to make their own medical decisions are forced to choose between forgoing medically necessary procedures and treatments or facing criminal prosecution.”

Alabama Republicans who supported the law have maintained it is needed to protect children. A spokeswoman for Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said, “we are prepared to defend our Alabama values and this legislation.”

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said Friday that the “Biden Administration has chosen to prioritize leftist politics at the expense of Alabama’s children."

“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...