BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (AP) – Dr Hussein Abdul-Latif spent the last week prescribing refills for his young transgender patients, trying to make sure they had access to their drugs for several months before Alabama illegally did so. to prescribe them.
He also answered questions from anxious patients and their parents: What will happen to me if I suddenly have to stop taking testosterone? Do we have to leave the state of care?
A new state law, which went into effect on Sunday, makes it a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison for doctors to prescribe puberty blockers and hormones to trans people under 19. A judge has not yet ruled on a request to block the state from enforcing the law.
The measure is part of a wave of legislation in Republican-controlled states focused on LGBTQ youth. Bills have been introduced to limit the discussion of gender and sexual identity issues in younger classes or to ban children from using school toilets or playing in sports teams that do not match their gender at birth.
Abdul-Latif, a pediatric endocrinologist and co-founder of a Birmingham clinic to treat children with sexual dysphoria, said he was very discouraged by the Alabama law. He said it was already difficult enough for families in this very conservative country to come to terms with their children’s situations. They have already faced social stigma and “the difficult decision to leave their church family or be seen as less worthy,” he said.
But gradually, he said, trance children became more visible and the country was more open to them going out.
“They have always existed, but they often did not have the sense of authority to go out or go to their doctors,” he said. “And now that they are, we retaliate with legal action.”
Abdul-Latif notes that the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Pediatric Endocrine Society support the treatments that clinics here and in other states offer for transgender youth.
On the contrary, “The state not only says I am a criminal for prescribing these drugs, but says that my organization of thousands of doctors, pediatricians and pediatric endocrinologists may be partners in this criminal endeavor,” he said.
Four Alabama families with transgender children have filed a lawsuit challenging the new state law as unconstitutional. The US Department of Justice has joined the lawsuit. A federal judge heard evidence this week on a request to block the state from enforcing the statute while the legal dispute continues. More than 20 medical and mental health organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, have also called on the judge to block the law. A decision is expected sometime this week.
Alabama says the law is for the protection of children. “Science and common sense are on Alabama’s side. We will win this battle to protect our children, “Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said last week.
Now that the law is in force, families are wondering if they will have to leave the state, and doctors are worried about what will happen to their patients.
Abdul-Latif, a native of Jordan, and pediatrician Dr. Maurice Ladinsky moved to Alabama years ago to work as instructors and doctors at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In 2015, after seeing more families with children identifying as trans and seeking help for gender issues, they decided to establish a clinic to treat children with sexual dysphoria. They are now treating more than 150 young people who are transgender or different in gender.
Ladinski, who testified as a witness in the trial last week, told the Associated Press that she felt “going into a nightmare” when the Alabama legislature approved the ban. She says the measure is an unprecedented legislative oversight with parents’ decisions and medical practice.
This is the first time I can remember, at least for pediatricians, that we are literally forced to choose between the Hippocratic Oath, which we gave to “do no harm” and never abandon our patients, in the face of a potential criminal conviction. , ” she said.
Ladinski quickly agreed to set up a gender clinic in Birmingham when Abdul-Latif approached her about it. She had moved to the city from a hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, which had a pediatric gender health team and was familiar with the treatment.
But that was not all. She had also taken a commute to work each morning, leading her to where Ohio transgender teen Leila Alcorn had stepped in front of an oncoming tractor trailer in 2014. Leela left a suicide note that read, “My death must mean something. … Correct society. Please.”
Some of the children Abdul-Latif and Ladinsky treated at the Birmingham clinic came to them after suicide attempts, doctors said. One patient tried to commit suicide five times, he said. A 2021 study by the Trevor Project, a non-profit organization focused on suicide prevention efforts among LGBTQ youth, found that 52% of transgender and non-binary youth have seriously considered suicide in the past year, with 1 in 5 reporting suicide attempt.
“There is no doubt in our minds that they saved my daughter’s life,” said David Fuller, whose daughter was one of the first patients treated in Birmingham.
Jessica Fuller, now 22, was 16 when she first came to the clinic after telling her father she was trans. “The dysphoria was terrible and I thought about suicide more often than I would like to say,” Fuller wrote in an email.
She called Alabama’s new law a “waste of time and money.”
“It’s horrifying not only for the children, but also for the doctors and nurses who are just trying to help the children not commit suicide,” she wrote. “Are you going to arrest him for something so harmless?”
Abdul-Latif said he understood that some people might be skeptical about medical treatments for transgender children.
“But turning it into law and turning it into a crime is far beyond skepticism,” he said, adding that the law “essentially closes … a very important dialogue in the country about what is better and what is better.” best for children with sexual dysphoria.
“I welcome the dispute. I welcome the skeptical voices. “I do not welcome impressive voices that do not leave a debate,” he said.
David Fuller, a police sergeant in Gadsden, said he was angry that the law could lead officers to handcuff people he calls heroes and attribute the rescue to his child.
“I’m a cop and I know what a crime is,” Fuller said. “I know what a criminal he is. These people are not criminals. This is political nonsense. “
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