New Law Banning Medical Transitions In Children Goes Into Effect In Alabama

Transgender ideology, since it entered the national debate, has divided our nation in unthinkable ways. However, what should not be divisive is the following viewpoint: whatever the status of transgenderism, children are not old enough, nor rational enough, to transition into another gender medically. It is neither just, nor right, to push that monumental decision on them from such an early age.

We want to be clear: we say this out of love — not hatred. In the classical sense, love is willing for the ultimate good of another. And it is the ultimate good of children for them to develop uncoerced by the prospect of reconstructive surgeries or puberty blockers.

Alabama agrees, and they are passing new legislation to ensure that this never happens in their state. Alabama’s Senate Bill 184 went into effect Sunday. The bill was passed back in April to national controversy, as you might expect given the national divide on transgenderism. The bill blocks puberty blockers, alterational drugs, and surgeries — what is commonly called “gender-affirming care”– with a maximum of a ten-year jail sentence for medical professionals who break the law.

Governor Kay Ivey said the following concerning the bill back in April:

“There are very real challenges facing our young people, especially with today’s societal pressures and modern culture. I believe very strongly that if the Good Lord made you a boy, you are a boy, and if he made you a girl, you are a girl. 

We should especially protect our children from these radical, life-altering drugs and surgeries when they are at such a vulnerable stage in life. Instead, let us all focus on helping them to properly develop into the adults God intended them to be.”

It is easy to see the rationale for her decision. According to Ivey, God has prescribed a natural order to things. To deviate from that order at such a young age is no pathway to happiness. Indeed, she is being a charitable leader, preeminently so, by endorsing Senate Bill 184.

Republicans are protecting kids when we push for measures banning certain controversial medical practices. Republicans are not, in any sense, hurting children.

Indeed, Republicans are the party of the family, the party of family values. The family, not the individual, is the atom of society. In 2022 and 2024, we hope the party of the family takes action to protect the common good — which means taking care of our most vulnerable — children.