A judge has temporarily blocked enforcement of a first-of-its-kind law passed in Arkansas that bans gender-affirming treatment for trans youth.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Jay Moody granted an injunction against Arkansas’ House Bill 1570, which bars doctors and other medical professionals from prescribing transition care to minors under the age of 18. This includes hormones, puberty blockers, and surgical procedures, although the latter are rarely recommended for transgender young people.
Although Moody did not issue a written decision, he took particular issue during a Wednesday court hearing with a provision of the law that would cease medical treatment to youth who are already receiving medications like estrogen and testosterone.
“To pull this care midstream from these patients, or minors, would cause irreparable harm,” he said in a comment cited by NPR.
The judge’s reservations echoed Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson’s own opposition to HB 1570. In veto of the bill, the Republican leader criticized state lawmakers for not providing a pathway for transgender youth to continue treatment they had already been receiving. He further called the proposal “vast government overreach” and a “product of the cultural war in America.”
“That makes my heart break to think about it,” Hutchinson said of the denial of care to transgender youth.
HB 1570 became law, however, when GOP lawmakers overrode Hutchinson’s objections within a matter of hours. All it takes to reverse a gubernatorial veto in Arkansas is the support of 51% of legislators, and the bill sailed through both houses of the state legislature earlier this year with wide majorities.
Shortly after HB 1570 was forced into law, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced the filing of a lawsuit against it on behalf of four families affected by the legislation. Plaintiffs included Joanna Brandt, an Arkansas mom who was concerned she might need to uproot her family from the state to ensure that her son, Dylan, could continue receiving the treatment he needs.
“He just wants to get his driver’s license, get through high school, and go off and live his life,” she told them. earlier this year.
The injunction will remain in effect as the ACLU’s legal challenge moves through the court system. Holly Dickson, executive director of the ACLU of Arkansas, said in a statement that the judge’s decision sends a “clear message to states across the country that gender-affirming care is life-saving care, and we won’t let politicians in Arkansas — or anywhere else — take it away.”
“Today’s victory is a testament to the trans youth of Arkansas and their allies, who never gave up the fight to protect access to gender- affirming care and who will continue to defend the right of all trans people to be their authentic selves, free from discrimination,” Dickson said.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge affirmed that she will fight to overturn the injunction against HB 1570, which was scheduled to take effect on July 28. She claimed in a statement cited by the Arkansas Times that the “evidence based law was created because we cannot allow children as young as 9 years old to receive experimental procedures that have irreversible, physical consequences.”
“I will aggressively defend Arkansas’s law which strongly limits permanent, life-altering sex changes to adolescents,” she added. “I will not sit idly by while radical groups such as the ACLU use our children as pawns for their own social agenda.”
Rutledge’s characterization of gender-affirming care contradicts the findings of leading medical groups in the United States, which have largely opposed bills like HB 1570. Dr. James L. Madara, executive vice president and CEO of the American Medical Association (AMA), said in April that Arkansas’ law serves to “insert the government into clinical decision-making and force physicians to disregard clinical guidelines.”
“We believe it is inappropriate and harmful for any state to legislatively dictate that certain transition-related services are never appropriate and limit the range of options physicians and families may consider when making decisions for pediatric patients,” Madara said in a statement.
Multiple studies have shown that access to puberty blockers and other forms of transition care helps trans youth feel happier and healthier and reduces rates of suicidality.
Despite the opinions of leading medical professionals, increasing numbers of Republican-led states are coming out in opposition to affirming trans health care. Last week, 17 states signed onto a letter opposing life-saving treatments for trans youth, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently signaled that he will take executive action to limit such care from being offered.
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