Judge Overturns Arkansas Law Banning Gender Transition Care for Minors

WEDNESDAY, June 21, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- An Arkansas law banning gender transition care for minors, which has been on pause since 2021, was struck down on Tuesday after a U.S. federal judge ruled that it discriminated against transgender people. The ruling applies only in Arkansas, but it is the first of what legal scholars expect will be addressed in courts nationwide for years to come.

Judge James Moody Jr., of the Federal District Court in Little Rock, also found that the law violated the constitutional rights of doctors.

"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 wrote in his ruling. "Further, the various claims underlying the state's arguments that the act protects children and safeguards medical ethics do not explain why only gender-affirming medical care -- and all gender-affirming medical care -- is singled out for prohibition."

The law would have prevented doctors from providing their minor patients with hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and gender transition surgeries and caused providers to lose their licenses if they did provide this care. It also would have allowed private insurance companies to decline transgender care for patients of all ages, and doctors would have been prevented from referring patients to another state for care, The New York Times reported.

"There is no evidence that the Arkansas health care community is throwing caution to the wind when treating minors with gender dysphoria," Moody wrote, adding that "the state has failed to prove that its interests in the safety of Arkansas adolescents from gender-transitioning procedures or the medical community's ethical decline are compelling, genuine, or even rational."

Other states, like Alabama, Nebraska, Texas, and Florida, have also passed laws on transition care, The Times reported. Alabama's laws would imprison providers. Texas bans hormones, puberty blockers, and surgeries for transgender children. Florida's law also targets transgender adults. Legal challenges to some are ongoing.

The New York Times Article