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ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced Thursday that the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an injunction blocking enforcement of Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender adolescents.
A lawsuit was filed on behalf of four transgender youths, their parents, and two Arkansas doctors, this past month. The plaintiffs have challenged an Arkansas law that would prohibit healthcare professionals from providing or even referring transgender young people for medically necessary health care.
The law would also bar any state funds or insurance coverage for gender-affirming health care for transgender people under 18, and it would allow private insurers to refuse to cover gender-affirming care for people of any age. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges that House Bill 1570 is a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
“Today, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that no child should be denied medical care they need,” said Holly Dickson, ACLU of Arkansas executive director. “We are relieved for trans youth. Research shows that denying gender-affirming care to transgender youth contributes to depression, isolation, eating disorders, self-harm, and suicide. Transgender people deserve the right to live healthy lives without fear and discrimination. It’s time for the Arkansas Legislature to protect trans kids, not target them.”
“This is a critical victory for transgender adolescents in Arkansas, their families, and their medical providers,” said Chase Strangio, deputy director for Transgender Justice at the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “The Eighth Circuit was abundantly clear that the state’s ban on care does not advance any important governmental interest and the state’s defense of the law is lacking in legal or evidentiary support. The state has no business categorically singling out this care for prohibition. We know adolescents thrive with this care, support, and love, and we’re determined to keep fighting until this baseless law is permanently struck down.”
A lower court judge had previously blocked enforcement of Arkansas’ Act 626 in July 2021, one week before the law was set to go into effect. The state appealed the preliminary injunction to the 8th Circuit and today the court upheld the injunction while the case proceeds to trial. The trial will be held in the U.S. District Court in Little Rock beginning on October 17, 2022.
Act 626 was the first measure in the country outlawing gender-affirming medical care for transgender adolescents. A similar Alabama law is under injunction from a federal district court, and an effort in Texas to treat gender-affirming care as child abuse under existing statutes is partially by two injunctions issued from a Texas state court in March and July of 2022.
In a press release in July the ACLU notes:
“Some of the families who have sued the state are considering leaving their homes, their jobs, their extended families, and their communities, to ensure their children are able to access gender-affirming care. The care that would be banned by the Arkansas law has been shown in recent studies to dramatically reduce depression and suicidal ideation in transgender young people with gender dysphoria.
Plaintiffs (Courtesy of the ACLU of Arkansas)
