Alabama Comes 1 Step Closer to Nation's First Ban on Trans Surgeries, Puberty Blockers for Children
The Alabama state Senate voted Tuesday to criminalize performing gender transition surgeries or hormone therapy on minors who identify as transgender.
Under the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, doctors would be prohibited from treating Alabama minors with hormone therapy, surgery or puberty blockers “intended to alter the minor child’s gender or delay puberty.”
The bill would also require schools to let parents know if their child has the “perception that his or her gender is inconsistent with his or her sex” and establish criminal penalties for violations.
The Alabama state Senate passed the legislation Tuesday in a 23-4 vote, CBS News reported, sending the bill to the Alabama state House of Representatives.
The Alabama House has already approved a companion bill and the two combined bills would make it a felony for doctors to perform trans surgeries or hormone treatment on minors.
Medical professionals who violate the legislation, if passed and signed into law, could face up to 10 years in prison or pay a $15,000 fine, CBS reported.
“Children aren’t mature enough to make these decisions on surgeries and drugs,” Republican Alabama state Sen. Shay Shelnutt, who sponsored the bill, told The Associated Press. “The whole point is to protect kids.”
Progressive groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, protested against the bill.
“This legislation will endanger young trans lives in Alabama,” Sam Brinton, the vice president of advocacy and government affairs at the LGBT organization The Trevor Project, said in a statement on Tuesday.
“It contradicts the consensus of major medical associations and the overwhelming evidence that demonstrates how affirming transgender and nonbinary youth in their identities reduces suicide risk and improves health.”
Alabama would become the first state to pass such legislation, according to CBS. The state also is considering H.B. 391, which would prevent biological males from participating in female sports.
Republican Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.
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