Arkansas bill banning treatments for transgender youth heads to governor

The Arkansas Senate on Monday approved banning gender confirming treatments for minors, sending the governor a restriction on transgender youth that has been criticized by medical and child welfare groups.

Arkansas House Bill 1570, which would ban gender confirmation surgeries and hormone prescriptions for anyone younger than 18 in the state, is headed to the governor's desk.

The bill passed the Senate 28-7 Monday. It does not have a provision for youth who are currently transitioning.

If the bill is enacted, it would be the first prohibition of its kind in the country, opponents say. The bill would prohibit doctors from providing gender confirming hormone treatment or surgery to minors, or from referring them to other providers for the treatment.

“This bill sets out to protect children in an area where they very much need protection," Republican Sen. Alan Clark, a sponsor of the measure, said before the vote.

But pediatricians, social workers and the parents of transgender youth have said it will have the opposite effect on a community already vulnerable to depression and suicide.

“Denying them access to gender affirming health care is denying them the right to be themselves," Joanna Brandt, the Arkansas mother of a transgender boy, told reporters at a news conference before the vote. “My son will be devastated if he is forced to stop his hormone treatment."

The American Psychological Association and American Medical Association have publicly opposed the bill. The American Academy of Pediatrics also spoke out against the bill.

During the session, Clark said the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry says 90% of young adults who experienced gender dysphoria eventually identified how they were assigned at birth. He also pointed out that counseling and therapy for youth experiencing gender dysphoria is not prohibited in the bill and even encouraged youth and their families to seek out these services.

Before speaking in favor of the bill, Clark said his heart goes out to children and adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria and their families.

"Bills like this have already been struck down federally on the basis of the 14th Amendment," argued Sen. Clarke Tucker before the bill passed.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, has not said whether he supports the measure. A spokeswoman said he will review the bill more closely and listen to the debate on it, but did not say when he would make a decision. He has five days, not counting Sunday, after the bill reaches his desk to sign or veto the legislation before it becomes law without his signature.

Hutchinson has already signed Senate Bill 289, which would ban transgender girls from playing men's sports at Arkansas schools, into law this legislative session.

On Friday, he signed a law that would allow doctors to refuse to treat someone because of religious or moral objections, a move that opponents say could be used to turn away LGBTQ patients.

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBTQ rights group, ran a TV ad in Arkansas over the weekend criticizing the measures targeting trans youth.

“For Arkansas to prioritize unpopular, discriminatory bills like (the treatment ban) during this legislative session, despite the economic devastation the pandemic has had on the state, shows that they prioritize cruelty to children over actually helping Arkansans,” Alphonso David, the group's president, said in a statement.

Similar transgender treatment prohibitions are being considered by lawmakers in Alabama and Tennessee.

Opponents of the bill include the American Academy of Pediatrics. The group's president, Dr. Lee Beers, called the measure “discrimination by legislation" and said it would politicize medical care.

The American Civil Liberties Union said it plans to take legal action to block the treatments ban if it's signed into law. If signed, the ban would take effect later this summer.

The Associated Press contributed.

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Arkansas passes bill banning treatments for transgender youth