Ten congressmen from Alabama and Tennessee on Thursday asked the National Institutes of Health to release unpublished data showing that puberty blockers do not provide mental health benefits as the states’ gender-affirming care bans for minors goes before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The NIH-funded study, which has been ongoing for nine years, found puberty blockers did not improve the mental health of children prescribed the treatment.

“Under no circumstances should taxpayers fund a study and then be denied access to the results,” said U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Hoover, who spearheaded the letter sent by the congressmen Thursday to NIH Director Dr. Monica M. Bertagnolli and Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, the medical director of The Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles — the largest youth gender clinic in the country. Olson-Kennedy helped run the study.

“The NIH should be not allowed to cover up critical research because of political concerns, especially when the health and safety of our children are involved,” Palmer continued. “If professors or other organizations desire to conceal information from the research and studies they conduct, they must not seek government funding for their projects.”

In an interview with The New York Times published late last month, Olson-Kennedy said she was concerned the study’s findings would create backlash against gender-affirming care for minors and lead to more state’s banning treatments.

“I do not want our work to be weaponized,” she told the paper. “It has to be exactly on point, clear and concise. And that takes time.”

Olson-Kennedy also said the study participants were “in really good shape” before the study, which limited how much an effect the blockers would have on their mental health.

The letter was signed by Palmer and the rest of Alabama’s GOP congressional delegation: Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville; Jerry Carl, R-Mobile; Dale Strong, R-Huntsville; Barry Moore, R-Enterprise; and Mike Rogers, R-Saks.

Also lending their signatures were Tennessee Republican Reps. Andy Ogle, Scott DeJarlais and David Kustoff.

“We are concerned that America’s youth are being harmed as a result of the NIH-funded Trans Youth Care study led by Dr. Olson-Kennedy,” the congressmen wrote.

The letter requested several documents from the NIH and Olson-Kennedy, including progress reports and “documents and communications” on the study and puberty blockers.

Two dozen states, including Alabama and Tennessee, have banned hormone therapy for transgender youth.

On Dec. 4, the U.S. Supreme will begin hearing a challenge to Tennessee’s ban on hormone treatments, including puberty blockers, for patients younger than 18.

Alabama passed a ban in 2022, making it a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, to prescribe or administer hormone treatments or puberty blockers to anyone younger than 19.

Several court cases have litigated Alabama’s ban since 2022.

U.S. District Judge Liles Burke first issued a temporary injunction in May 2022, a decision that came after a three-day hearing in a lawsuit filed by parents of transgender children. Burke wrote that the law was likely unconstitutional. The U.S. Department of Justice intervened in the case on the side of the parents who said they wanted their kids to have access to care.

That lawsuit was put on hold in July because of the pending case in the Supreme Court. Burke said the hold was necessary “given the risk that the Supreme Court may well change the governing standard of review.”