阿拉巴马州立法机构已经通过了两项关注跨性别青年的法案:SB 184，禁止性别确认护理HB 322，禁止跨性别学生使用符合其性别身份的浴室和更衣室。由于最后一分钟的修订，HB 322还限制了教室中的LGBTQ内容。
《弱势儿童保护法》SB 184规定，任何人向18岁以下的人提供性别确认护理，包括青春期阻滞剂、激素治疗或性别确认物理手术，都可能被判重罪，面临最高10年的监禁和15，000美元的罚款。
几个阿拉巴马医生说立法充斥着关于性别确认护理实际上如何影响儿童的错误信息。
伯明翰阿拉巴马大学的儿科学副教授莫里莎·拉丁斯基先前告诉美国广播公司新闻说:“当立法者试图无照行医时，他们很快意识到，他们不了解的东西比他们认为的要多得多。”
例如，该法案将禁止未成年人接受性别确认的“外科手术”，但在阿拉巴马州，在患者达到做出医疗决定的法定成年年龄(19岁)之前，这种手术是不允许的。
该立法还声称青春期阻滞剂会导致不孕或其他健康风险。根据Ladinsky的说法，这些潜在的副作用只有在青春期后才会出现真正的风险，对于服用青春期阻滞剂的青少年来说没有风险。
该法案的发起人，共和党参议员谢伊·谢尔纳特(Shay Shelnutt)称性别确认医疗保健为“虐待儿童”。
“我们不希望父母虐待他们的孩子。我们不想让这成为一种选择，因为事实就是如此;这是虐待儿童。这只是为了保护儿童，”谢尔纳特2月23日在州参议院说。
蒙哥马利广告商通过《今日美国》网络
参议员谢伊·谢尔纳特在参议院立法会议期间辩论变性人法案..
考特尼·罗克(Courtney Roark)是阿拉巴马州青年领导的非盈利性生殖权利组织URGE的政策与运动大楼主任，她抨击该法案的通过是对跨性别青年及其家庭身体自主权的攻击。
罗克说:“在对我们的身体、我们的自主权以及我们过上幸福健康生活的愿望的又一次攻击中，阿拉巴马州的政客们通过并签署了一项法案，该法案将医生、校长、教师、学校辅导员和护士为跨性别和非二元青年提供性别确认护理和支持的行为定为犯罪。”“我们州和全国各地的跨性别和非二元青年在获得他们应得的自由和快乐生活方面已经面临着巨大的障碍。”
HB 322将要求公立K-12学校的学生只能使用与他们出生时指定的性别相对应的浴室和更衣室。
该法案的发起人阿拉巴马州众议员斯科特·斯塔德哈根(Scott Stadthagen)表示，该法案并不针对跨性别学生。
斯塔德哈根说:“这个州的几乎每个学区都在处理异性想使用异性卫生间的问题。”曾在辩论中说过。“我发现这是一个安全问题。这是为了保护我们的学生。”
该法案的一项修正案还将禁止公立中小学幼儿园至五年级学生就性取向或性别认同进行课堂教学或讨论。这种语言反映了在全国各地突然出现的有争议的所谓“不要说同性恋”的法案。
LGBTQ自杀意识团体特雷弗项目谴责通过这样的法案。
“在阿拉巴马州立法会议的最后一天，立法者增加了最后一分钟的投票，以推动我们迄今为止见过的最极端的反跨性别议程——所有这些都在几个小时内，”特雷弗项目的倡导和政府事务主任萨姆·埃姆斯说。
“这些政策不仅残酷而且没有必要，而且在大多数美国人当中也不受欢迎，”他们继续说道。“将医生定罪，将跨性别青年从他们的支持系统中隔离出来，以及对围绕LGBTQ身份的谈话进行污名化，只会在这些青年中引发更多的欺凌、焦虑和自杀风险。”
Alabama legislature passes 'Don't Say Gay,' trans care and bathroom ban bills
The Alabama legislature has passed two bills focusing on transgender youth: SB 184, which would ban gender-affirming care, and HB 322, which would ban trans students from using bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity. HB 322 also limits LGBTQ content in classrooms due to a last-minute amendment.
SB 184, the Vulnerable Child Protection Act, states that anyone who provides gender-affirming care -- including puberty blockers, hormone therapy or physical gender-affirming surgeries -- to anyone under 18 could be convicted of a felony and face up to 10 years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
SeveralAlabama physicians has said the legislationis riddled with misinformation about how gender-affirming care actually affects children.
"When lawmakers attempt to practice medicine with a life without a license, they realize quickly that there was a lot more they didn't understand than what they thought they did," Morissa Ladinsky, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, previously told ABC News.
For instance, the bill would ban minors from receiving gender-affirming "surgical procedures," but in Alabama, such surgeries aren't allowed until a patient reaches the age of legal majority for medical decisions, which is 19.
The legislation also makes the claim that puberty blockers can cause infertility or other health risks. According to Ladinsky, these potential side effects only present real risks after puberty and are not a risk to youth taking puberty blockers.
The bill's sponsor, Republican Sen. Shay Shelnutt, has called gender-affirming health care "child abuse."
"We don’t want parents to be abusing their children. We don’t want to make that an option, because that’s what it is; it’s child abuse. This is just to protect children," Shelnutt said Feb. 23 on the state Senate floor.
Courtney Roark, the Alabama policy & movement building director for the youth-led reproductive rights nonprofit URGE, slammed the bill's passage as an attack on bodily autonomy for trans youth and their families.
"In yet another attack on our bodies, our autonomy, and our desire to live happy and healthy lives, Alabama politicians have passed and signed into law a bill that would criminalize doctors, principals, teachers, school counselors and nurses for providing gender-affirming care and support to trans and non-binary youth," Roark said. "Trans and non-binary youth in our state and across the country already face extraordinary barriers to accessing the liberated and joyous lives they deserve."
HB 322 would require students in public K-12 schools to only use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their assigned sex at birth.
Alabama state Rep. Scott Stadthagen, the sponsor of the bill, said the bill does not target transgender students.
"Almost every school district in this state is dealing with this issue with opposite genders wanting to use opposite bathrooms," Stadthagenhas said in debate. "I find this to be a safety issue. It is for protection of our students."
An amendment to this bill would also prohibit classroom instruction or discussion on sexual orientation or gender identity for students in kindergarten through the fifth grade in public K-12 schools. The language mirrors the controversial so-called "Don't Say Gay" bills popping up across the country.
LGBTQ suicide awareness group The Trevor Project condemned the passage of such bills.
"On likely the last day of Alabama’s legislative session, lawmakers have added last-minute votes to push the most extreme anti-transgender agenda we’ve seen to date -- all within a matter of hours," said Sam Ames, director of advocacy and government affairs for The Trevor Project.
"These policies are not only cruel and unnecessary, they are unpopular among a majority of Americans," they continued. "Criminalizing doctors, isolating trans youth from their support systems and stigmatizing conversations around LGBTQ identity will only fuel more bullying, anxiety and suicide risk among these youth."
