Montgomery, Ala.

Trans health care: A federal judge last week blocked Alabama’s first-in-thenation law restricting gender-affirming treatment for minors, saying it would cause “severe physical and/or psychological harm” to trans youth and their families and likely violate their constitutional rights. A week earlier, Alabama became the first state to make prescribing puberty blockers and hormones a felony, with penalties for doctors and other clinicians of up to 10 years in prison or a $15,000 fine. But Judge Liles Burke, an appointee of former President Trump, said parents “have a fundamental right to direct the medical care of their children,” and that “discrimination based on gender nonconformity equates to sex discrimination.” He let stand part of the law requiring schools to tell parents about any information regarding their child’s gender identity. Gov. Kay Ivey vowed to keep fighting “radical, unproven, life-altering drugs.”