This week sees the start of the first trial in the country regarding a state’s ban on gender-confirming medical care for children in Arkansas. This is the latest battle over limitations on transgender youth championed by Republican leaders and roundly denounced by medical professionals.
The law that U.S. District Judge Jay Moody temporarily blocked last year forbids doctors from performing surgery, gender-confirming hormone therapy, or puberty blockers on anyone under 18 and will be the subject of testimony and evidence beginning on Monday.
Additionally, it stops physicians from sending their patients elsewhere for such care.
The families of four transgender children and two medical professionals who provide gender-confirming care are pleading with Moody to overturn the law because it discriminates against transgender children, infringes upon parents’ rights to make medical decisions for their children, and violates the free speech rights of medical professionals. Two weeks are predicted for the trial.
Lacey Jennen, whose daughter, 17, has been undergoing gender-confirming treatment, said, “As a parent, I never anticipated I’d have to fight for my daughter to obtain medically necessary health care her doctor says she needs, and we know she needs.”
The first state to outlaw gender-confirming medical services was Arkansas, where Republican lawmakers overrode Republican governor Asa Hutchinson’s veto of the Act in 2021. Hutchinson, who had also helped pass other laws restricting transgender children, felt that by prohibiting care for individuals already receiving it, the prohibition went too far.
The American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics are two medical organizations that oppose the bans, and experts agree that the therapies are safe when used as directed.
However, proponents of the measure have contended that the prohibition falls inside the state’s purview of controlling medical procedures.
“This is about safeguarding kids, “Leslie Rutledge said, the Republican attorney general. Nothing in this legislation prevents someone older than 18 from making this choice. In Arkansas, we work to shield kids from making decisions that will affect them for the rest of their lives.”
A federal judge has struck down Alabama’s comparable statute. At the same time, Texas’ efforts to look into gender-confirming care for youngsters as child abuse have also been thwarted by a judge there. As a result of giving care that confirms gender, children’s hospitals all around the nation have experienced abuse and violence threats.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, which brought the lawsuit on behalf of the families, is led by executive director Holly Dickson. She stated, “This most recent wave of anti-trans fever that is now spreading to other states started in Arkansas, and it needs to end in Arkansas.”
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals three-judge panel upheld Moody’s preliminary injunction blocking the enforcement of the ban in August. However, the state has requested that the entire 8th Circuit appeals court review the matte.
