A federal judge has declared Arkansas’ pioneering ban on gender-affirming care for minors as unconstitutional, marking the first legal decision to strike down such a restriction amidst a trend of Republican-led states implementing similar laws.
U.S. District Judge Jay Moody issued a permanent injunction against the Arkansas law, which sought to prohibit doctors from providing gender-affirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers, or surgery to individuals under the age of 18. The law would have also forbidden doctors from making referrals for such care. Following Arkansas’ law, around 19 other states have enacted laws limiting or banning gender-affirming care for minors, many of which have been legally challenged.
Judge Moody determined that the ban violated the due process and equal protection rights of transgender youth and their families. Additionally, he ruled that the law infringed on the First Amendment rights of medical providers. Moody stated, “Rather than protecting children or safeguarding medical ethics, the evidence showed that the prohibited medical care improves the mental health and well-being of patients and that, by prohibiting it, the state undermined the interests it claims to be advancing.”
Moody’s ruling echoed the sentiments expressed by other judges who had temporarily blocked similar bans in Alabama and Indiana.
Arkansas’ Republican Attorney General, Tim Griffin, expressed his intention to appeal Moody’s ruling to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Griffin expressed disappointment in the decision and referred to gender-affirming care as “experimentation.” However, the judge’s ruling stated that this argument was contradicted by decades of clinical experience and scientific research.
The ban in Arkansas was enacted by Republican lawmakers in 2021, overriding a veto by former GOP Governor Asa Hutchinson. Hutchinson, who is currently running for the Republican presidential nomination, criticized the law for going too far by denying treatment to children who were already receiving gender-affirming care.
Holly Dickson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arkansas, emphasized, ““This decision sends a clear message. Fear-mongering and misinformation about this health care do not hold up to scrutiny; it hurts trans youth and must end. Science, medicine, and law are clear: gender-affirming care is necessary to ensure these young Arkansans can thrive and be healthy.”
The ACLU took legal action against the law on behalf of four transgender youth, their families, and two doctors.
The ruling comes at a time when more states are considering implementing bans on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. While Louisiana’s Democratic governor plans to veto a similar prohibition, the Republican-controlled Legislature is expected to have enough votes to override the veto. Proposed bans are also under consideration in the legislatures of North Carolina and Ohio.
Currently, three states have implemented regulations or administrative orders that either ban or restrict gender-affirming care for minors.
Florida’s law goes beyond prohibiting treatments for youth by also disallowing the use of state funds for gender-affirming care and imposing additional restrictions on adults seeking such treatment. A federal judge has blocked Florida from enforcing its ban on three children who challenged the law.
Children’s hospitals across the country have faced harassment and threats of violence due to their provision of gender-affirming care.
The state argues that the ban falls under its jurisdiction to regulate the medical profession. Critics of these treatments for children believe that they are not capable of making decisions about their future at such a young age. However, major medical organizations, such as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, oppose these bans and experts assert that the treatments are safe when administered properly.
Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who succeeded Governor Asa Hutchinson, signed legislation in March that aims to effectively reinstate Arkansas’ ban by making it easier to sue providers of gender-affirming care for children. This law will come into effect later this summer.
In response to the ruling, Sanders referred to the care as “activists pushing a political agenda at the expense of our kids” and claimed, “Only in the far-Left’s woke vision of America is it not appropriate to protect children.”
During the approximately two-week trial before Judge Moody, one of the transgender youths challenging the state’s ban, Dylan Brandt, aged 17, testified in October about how hormone therapy has transformed his life, stating that the ban would compel him to leave the state.
Brandt, one of the transgender youth involved in the lawsuit, expressed gratitude that the judge took into account their personal experience and recognized the potential harm of the law. In a statement released by the ACLU, Brandt said, “I’m so grateful the judge heard my experience of how this health care has changed my life for the better and saw the dangerous impact this law could have on my life and that of countless other transgender people.”
Jennen, another transgender youth who challenged the ban, expressed a sense of relief in response to the ruling. She described feeling a “wave of relief” and emphasized the transformative impact of gender-affirming care on her well-being. Jennen, 17, stated, “I can say with 100% certainty that if I hadn’t had this care, I would not be here today or at least in such a stable, mental state as happy as I am and as thriving as I am. Having this care, it truly lifted me up from the deepest, darkest place.”
