AUGUSTA –Attorney General Aaron Frey has joined a coalition of 21 attorneys general, led by California, in filing an amicus brief in opposition to an Alabama law, Senate Bill 184 (SB 184), criminalizing evidence-based and medically accepted gender-affirming care for transgender youth, according to an Aug. 18 news release from the Office of the Maine Attorney General.

The law, which was preliminarily blocked by the district court, makes it a felony — punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000 — for any person to assist transgender youth in Alabama in accessing gender-affirming care, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy. In the friend-of-the-court brief, the coalition urges the appellate court to affirm the district court’s decision and highlights the extreme harms of the State of Alabama’s intrusions on medical decisions that should be made between doctors and patients and their parents.

“Gender-affirming from a caring medical professional may mean the difference between life and death for a young trans person,” said Attorney General Frey. “SB 184 is an unconscionable, discriminatory interference between a medical professional and their patient.”  

Signed into law on April 8, 2022, SB 184 is part of a dangerous, nationwide assault on the right of transgender people to live with dignity, be free from discrimination, and have equal access to healthcare. Alabama’s categorical ban on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth ignores broad medical consensus, interferes with medical decisions that providers reach with individual patients and their families, and violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The law specifically targets transgender youth, ignoring the use of the exact same type of medical interventions for treatment to reinforce the gender an individual was assigned at birth. For instance, SB 184 permits doctors to prescribe testosterone for a cisgender male teen suffering from delayed pubertal development but makes it a felony for a transgender male teen to access the same treatment. 

Discrimination and exclusion on the basis of transgender status cause direct economic, emotional, and health harms, including an increased risk of depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and suicide. In contrast to Alabama, the coalition states have adopted laws and policies to combat discrimination against transgender people in healthcare, including policies that guarantee non-discriminatory insurance coverage of gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth. These efforts result in better health outcomes for transgender residents and help safeguard their physical, emotional, and financial well-being.

In the amicus brief, the coalition explains:

• SB 184 directly harms transgender teens living in and traveling to Alabama and imposes spillover harms on other states;
• SB 184 would exacerbate the effects of discrimination and inadequate access to healthcare for transgender teens;
• SB 184 discriminates based on sex, ignores medical standards, and interferes with decisions made between doctors and their patients;
• SB 184 directly violates equal protection by prohibiting only transgender youth from taking certain medications; and
• In contrast, policies like those in amici states that ensure access to gender-affirming medical care have improved health outcomes for transgender people and are based on well-established medical standards.

In the filing the amicus brief, Attorney General Frey joins the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. 

A copy of the amicus brief is available here. 

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