SHAMELESS: Alabama Republicans already using Dobbs court ruling to target the most vulnerable
Alabama wasted no time after the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade to expand the state’s oppression by using the court’s decision as reasoning to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth. According to NPR, just days after SCOTUS’ Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Healthcare Organization ruling, Alabama asked an appellate court to lift an injunction barring the state from prosecuting those giving puberty blockers or hormones to transitioning minors.
And so it begins. The Alabama AG cites the overturning of Roe v. Wade to argue for a ban on trans health care. Alabama says b/c the Supreme Court said abortion is not 'deeply rooted' in the nation's history, the same can be said about access to gender-affirming care.
— Don Lewis (@DonLew87) June 29, 2022
The Alabama Attorney General’s office cited the Supreme Court’s rationale that abortion is not “deeply rooted in this nation’s history and tradition” in a brief filed last week that alleges that gender-affirming care is “dangerous” and “experimental,” despite the fact that that opinion has been debunked by medical organizations.
In a deeply red state, Alabama’s war on transgender youth began long before the Supreme Court ruling. The state’s governor, Kay Ivey, signed a bill making it a felony to give certain medications to transitioning youth, an offense punishable by up to a decade in prison. But a federal court sided with parents who accused the law of overstepping the boundaries of parental rights – keeping the law from being enforced.
Parents like Jeff Walker, father to a transgender teen, are concerned with the language in Alabama’s appeal of the injunction, pointing to legislation directed at trans youth concerning sports participation and bathrooms.
“I think everyone should be concerned by the wording of this appeal. By this logic, any health care the state feels isn’t in line with its morals or beliefs should be banned.”
While Alabama appears to be the first to stretch the boundaries of Dobbs, if the past year is any indication of where we are headed – it certainly won’t be the last. No less than 100 legislative bills directed at the transgender youth community have been passed nationwide — from banning participation in sports to directing social services to investigate parents of trans youth for child abuse. The downward slope just got a whole lot slippier.
Original source Associated Press
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