The first-ever trial over a state ban on transgender procedures for minors is underway in Arkansas after families of four transgender youth and two doctors sued to challenge the law.
U.S. District Judge Jay Moody began hearing testimony on Monday over a Republican-backed law he temporarily blocked from going into effect last year. Act 626, or the “Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act,” aims to prevent physicians from providing gender reassignment procedures or hormone treatment to anyone under 18 while also banning parents from consenting for their minors to receive such treatments.
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Challengers of the law, which include the families of four transgender youth, argue that such procedures are considered “gender-affirming” care. Notable institutions such as the World Health Organization claim that those who identify as transgender may require “gender-affirming hormone therapy and surgery.”
COURT SETS FALL ARGUMENTS ON TRANS YOUTH TREATMENT BAN
Asa Hutchinson”Arkansas’ attempt to ban gender-affirming care subverts the rights of parents and threatens medical providers for following best-practice, evidence-based guidelines,” the American Civil Liberties Union wrote in a statement on Monday. The ACLU filed the lawsuit against the state ban on behalf of the families.
Other groups that support the ACLU’s lawsuit include the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association.
“The decision of whether and when to initiate gender-affirming treatment, which does not necessarily lead to hormone therapy or surgery, is personal and involves careful consideration of risks, benefits, and other factors unique to each patient and family,” a spokesperson for the AAP told the Washington Examiner.
Arkansas became the first state in the union to pass a ban on gender transition procedures for minors in 2021, as Republicans in the state overrode a veto by GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson over the legislation. The conservative governor, who has supported other legislation targeting transgender youth, thought the law went too far in disallowing healthcare services for those currently undergoing such treatments.
One of the families involved in the lawsuit includes the teenage daughter of Mo Banks, a self-described “nonbinary” parent.
“There hasn’t been a day that’s gone by since the bill was introduced that I haven’t thought about the safety of my kid,” Banks told Time magazine. “These are things no parent should have to deal with.”
Act 626 does not ban medical intervention for other pediatric conditions such as the use of puberty blockers for treatment of central precocious puberty, a condition that causes children to enter developmental stages at an earlier age. However, another stipulation of the law disallows healthcare providers from referring minors to receive transgender procedures elsewhere.
The law states explicitly that “Arkansas has a compelling government interest in protecting the health and safety of its citizens, especially vulnerable children,” noting some disagreement with other medical institutions that claim transgender procedures are medically necessary processes that can benefit patients.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge (R) is also staunchly in support of the law, claiming that it protects children from “life-altering, permanent decisions that they may desire to make as an underage child but could regret as an adult,” according to a statement issued to the Arkansas Advocate.
“No law in Arkansas prevents someone from making these decisions as an adult,” Rutledge added.
A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in August upheld Moody’s preliminary injunction that blocked the ban’s enforcement, although the state has asked the full circuit court to review the case.
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Moody’s decision on whether to allow the law’s enactment could have larger ramifications for the rest of the country. Since the state passed Act 626, others, including Arizona and Alabama, have passed similar laws. And 15 states are considering “25 similar pieces of legislation,” the Kaiser Family Foundation reported in June.
The trial is likely to last two weeks.
