A federal judge blocked Arkansas' ban on transgender gender-affirming medical care for minors, a victory for trans youth and their families.
The law, passed in 2021, is the first-ever law in the United States (US) to prohibit doctors from providing gender-confirming hormone therapy, puberty blockers, or surgery to underage folks.
Federal Judge Blocks Arkansas Trans Medical Care Ban for Kids
WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 22: Simon Garbett, 17, who hails from Little Rock, Arkansas, dances with his mom Lizz Garbett during the "Trans Youth Prom" on May 22, 2023 in Washington, DC.
According to NBC News, Eastern District Arkansas US District Judge James Moody Jr. declared the ban on transgender medical care for kids unconstitutional. His latest ruling overturns and permanently blocks the law banning gender-affirming care for the underage.
The federal judge argued that the Arkansas law violates the First Amendment and 14th Amendment. Judge Moody Jr. wrote, "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 as such, he says that the law prohibiting such medical care "undermined the interest it claims to be advancing."
NBC News notes that it was the first time a judge had overturned a ban on gender-affirming care altogether. A total of 19 other states have laws similar to the prohibition in Arkansas, and as of writing, other states are also on the verge of passing similar measures.
As per CNN, the 80-page ruling of the judge rules that the law passed in 2021 is permanently banned from taking effect due to its violations of the US Constitution. Laws.
However, it is worth noting that federal judges have temporarily blocked the ban in other states, such as Indiana. CNN reports that Moody Jr. temporarily blocked the Arkansas law from taking effect last June 2021.
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Arkansas Plans to Appeal the Trans Medical Care Ban Ruling
AUSTIN, TEXAS - MARCH 08: Abortion rights demonstrators and transgender rights activists gather during an International Women's Day abortion rights demonstration at the Texas State Capitol on March 08, 2023 in Austin, Texas. Abortion rights activists gathered during an International Women's Day, advocating for access to legal abortion across all 50 states.
Although the ruling only applies to Arkansas, the decision has broader implications beyond state boundaries. It sets a crucial precedent for similar cases across the country and reinforces the rights of transgender minors to receive gender-affirming care.
However, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin slammed the decision to block the law. He says, "I am disappointed in the decision that prevents our state from protecting our children against dangerous medical experimentation."
As The Guardian reports, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson vetoed the bill when the Republican lawmakers passed it in 2021. However, they overrode the veto to enact the law.
Hutchinson's successor, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who signed the law last March to reinstate that ban, criticized the latest ruling. In a recent tweet, she blurted, "Only in the far left's woke vision of America is it not appropriate to protect children."
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