Alabama lawmakers voted on Thursday to criminalize gender-affirming medical care for transgender young people, adopting some of the nation’s most restrictive language and threatening doctors and nurses with up to 10 years in prison.
The legislation was approved as conservative lawmakers across the country have focused attention on transgender people and other L.G.B.T.Q.
issues, pursuing an array of bills that are aimed at limiting gender-affirming care, restricting what students are taught in the classroom about gender and sexuality and barring some transgender students from participating in school sports.
On Thursday, Alabama lawmakers also advanced legislation that would require students to use restrooms and locker rooms for the sex listed on their birth certificates.