Federal appeals court hearing arguments on nation’s first ban on gender-affirming care for minors
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A federal appeals court will hear arguments Thursday over Arkansas’ first-in-the-nation ban on gender-affirming care for minors, as the battle over restrictions on transgender youth passed by two dozen states moves closer to the U.S. Supreme Court .
Arkansas is appealing a federal judge’s ruling last year that struck down the state ban as unconstitutional, the first decision to overturn such a ban. The 2021 law bans doctors from performing gender-affirming hormone treatments, puberty blockers or surgery on people under the age of 18.
The case will go before the full 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals instead of a three-judge panel after granting a request from Republican Attorney General Tim Griffin. The move could speed the case’s progress to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has been asked to block similar laws in Kentucky and Tennessee.
It is unclear when the 8th Circuit will rule, although it is unlikely to happen immediately.
At least 24 states have passed laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, most of which are facing lawsuits. Judges’ orders have been issued temporarily blocking enforcement of the bans in Idaho and Montana. The health care restrictions are part of a larger backlash against transgender rights, affecting everything from bathroom access to participation in sports.
U.S. District Judge Jay Moody ruled last year that Arkansas’ health care restrictions violated the due process and equal protection rights of transgender youth and families. He also ruled that it violated the First Amendment by prohibiting doctors from referring patients elsewhere for such care. Moody had temporarily blocked the law before it could take effect in 2021.
The American Civil Liberties Union represents the families of four transgender youth and two providers. In court filings, the ACLU called the ban a “waking nightmare” that has driven their clients to move outside of Arkansas to receive care. The court will also hear arguments from a Justice Department lawyer, who has also opposed the ban in Arkansas.
“Despite the overwhelming evidence and expert testimony confirming the safety and effectiveness of gender-affirming care for trans youth, we are once again fighting for the fundamental right to access this life-saving treatment without unnecessary government interference,” said Donnie Ray Saxton, the father van Parker, one of the youth who challenged the ban, said in a statement released by the ACLU.
Several medical groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, have opposed Arkansas’ ban and urged the 8th Circuit to uphold the decision against it.
The state has pointed to appeals court rulings that allow Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee’s bans to remain in place. Arkansas attorneys have called the care “experimental,” a description that the Moody’s ruling said was refuted by decades of clinical experience and scientific research.
“The district court has created a new, new constitutional right for parents to subject their children to any form of procedure a doctor recommends, regardless of whether the state has determined that the procedure is experimental and unsafe,” the state said in a statement late last year a request. . “No such right exists, and the court’s contrary conclusion must be reversed.”
The ban in Arkansas was enacted after the majority GOP Legislature overrode a veto by Asa Hutchinson, the then-Republican governor. Current Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Hutchinson’s successor and also a Republican, has said she would have approved the ban and signed legislation last year that makes it easier to sue providers of such care for malpractice.