Here Comes The Judge.

Down in Alabama the new anti-trans healthcare law is being fought in court. The law bans healthcare to trans children and is the product of the Republican legislature.

Alabama's new transgender care felony faces federal test
A doctor testified that it would be devastating for transgender kids if Alabama outlaws the use of gender-affirming medications for adolescents
Associated Press
By Kim Chandler
May 5, 2022


A doctor testified Thursday that there will be devastating consequences for transgender adolescents if Alabama outlaws the use of gender-affirming medications for them, and that their medical providers would face jail time for providing standard care.

The testimony came in a federal court hearing as families with transgender children seek to block enforcement of the Alabama law banning the treatments. The Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, which is set take effect on Sunday, makes it a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison for medical providers to give puberty blockers and hormones to people under age 19 to help affirm their gender identity.

Lawmakers, who approved the bill this spring, said it is needed to protect children and that decisions on the medications should wait until adulthood. The legislation is part of a wave of bills in Republican-controlled states regarding transgender minors, but it is the first law to put criminal penalties on the doctors who provide the treatments to them.

[…]

The Alabama attorney general's office, in defending the law, has argued that the treatments are motivated by ideology and that the science is unsettled. “If the court enjoins this act, Alabama children face irreversible damage from unproven, sterilizing, and permanently scarring medical interventions pushed by ideological interest groups,” lawyers for the state wrote.

The Republicans and the conservatives know what they are doing puts young lives at risk but as I have said many time they don’t care… votes and donations are more important than our lives. They know that the preponderance of evidence shows that proper healthcare saves lives.

Twenty-three medical and mental health organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, have asked to file a brief in the case urging the judge to enjoin the law. “Gender-affirming medical care is the well-recognized, accepted standard of care for adolescents at risk of or suffering from gender dysphoria,” an attorney wrote in the motion.

The legislature heard testimony from doctors of the harmful affects of denying proper health care to trans children, the Montgomery Advertiser reported that,

Both Hawkins and Dr. Morissa Ladinsky, an associate professor at the University of Alabama Birmingham who works with transgender children, used their testimony to stress the multiple steps needed to diagnose gender dysphoria and the benefits of medication in treating. Hawkins described multiple assessments and discussions to determine whether a youth is suffering from the condition. Medications, she said, are not given to pre-pubescent children, and recommendations for medicine require consultations with teams of medical professionals and family approval. 

Hawkins said the advent of medications to treat gender dysphoria had made it possible for mental health professionals to work with transgender youth and families to improve their quality of life. 

[…]

During cross-examination, Alabama Deputy Solicitor General Barrett Bowdre pressed Hawkins on the efficacy of medication treatments and the potential risks of taking them, referring to studies from the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. Bowdre also suggested at points that diagnoses of gender dysphoria might not be accurate.

"At present, there are no brain studies or blood tests to determine whether someone has gender dysphoria," he said. "It depends on the patient report and what the family tells us."

But if puberty blockers are so dangers as the state contends that why do they still allow them? The article reports that “The law does not ban the use of hormones and puberty blockers for other situations.” if they drugs are so dangerous why do they allow them in other medical situations?

Face it these bills and laws are just for political gain the expense of our lives.