For Immediate Release:
April 10, 2023
For press inquiries only, contact:
Amanda Priest
Amanda.Priest@AlabamaAG.gov
Cameron Mixon (334) 242-7491
Attorney General Marshall Leads Effort Supporting Florida’s Ban on Medicaid Funds for Gender Transitioning Procedures
(MONTGOMERY) Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a 17-state amicus brief supporting Florida’s healthcare regulation that denies Medicaid coverage for gender transitioning procedures. After commissioning a comprehensive review of the medical literature, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration determined that the available scientific evidence does not support the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and reassignment surgeries as safe and effective treatments for gender dysphoria. Alabama’s brief was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.
“Protecting our children from these life-altering and damaging treatments continues to be our priority. And for many of the same reasons why kids should not be subjected to these treatments, the use of taxpayer dollars on these experimental medical interventions is unacceptable. That is why I am steadfast in my support of Florida’s reasonable regulation,” said Attorney General Steve Marshall. “We must help these vulnerable children, but we cannot exacerbate this problem with off-label and radical treatments that have yet to be studied for their long-term consequences.”
While the plaintiffs challenging Florida’s regulation relied heavily on medical interest groups to argue that transitioning treatments are supported by medical opinion, Alabama’s brief points out that these groups are at odds with European governmental healthcare authorities that have, like Florida, openly assessed the evidence base for the treatments. After doing so, the brief notes, healthcare authorities in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, and Norway all “called for drastically curtailing the availability of transitioning treatments for minors.”
The brief also argues that medical interest groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) operate as self-interested advocacy organizations when it comes to transitioning treatments. The brief highlights a number of episodes that reveal that these medical organizations have suppressed dissent and rebuffed calls from doctors for a transparent review of their policies. “The interest groups do not represent medical opinion, the brief concludes, just an outspoken slice of it.”
Marshall has been leading the effort as Alabama, numerous other states, and many countries around the world have grown concerned about how best to help the skyrocketing number of children suffering from gender dysphoria and other forms of gender-related psychological distress. For the past year, the Alabama Attorney General’s Office has been defending the State’s law prohibiting the use of gender transitioning hormones and surgeries on minors.
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals is currently considering Alabama’s appeal of the district court’s preliminary injunction order. Trial is set to begin in August.
Last year, Marshall led a 20-state coalition in support of Arkansas’s defense of its similar law before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
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