Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has filed court papers with 16 other GOP-led states defending a recent law in Arkansas banning doctors from providing 'experimental' transgender treatments for children.
Marshall was joined by attorney generals in 16 states in filing an amicus brief with the U.S.
District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas to defend the legislation that was passed in April.
Arkansas became the first state in the country to enact a law banning healthcare professionals providing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones or gender-affirming surgery to minors.
The legislation threatens medics who provide this care with losing their medical license and opens them up to lawsuits from patients who later regret their procedures.
'We are filing this brief because, like Arkansas, we are concerned about the surge in recent years of children suffering from gender dysphoria and other forms of gender-related psychological distress,' said Attorney General Marshall.
'Like Arkansas — and like those challenging the SAFE Act — we are concerned because these vulnerable children are suffering greatly and need h
r />The vital questions are, how do we help them, and how do we avoid serious irreversible damage.'
The brief comes after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit challenging a state's ability to prohibit minors from accessing 'gender-affirming' treatment while arguing it is against the
r />Constitution.
The Republican-dominated Arkansas state legislature (seen in the above January 12 file photo in Little Rock) passed a measure that bans doctors from providing certain types of hormonal treatments to transgender teens under the age of 18