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“This is government overtaking.”
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson vetoed a bill on Monday that would have banned sex confirmation treatment for transgender youth in the state.
In a press conference with reporters, the Republican governor said the intentions behind the state legislature’s “Saving Teens From Experimentation (SAFE) Act” were “well intentioned but irrelevant. “.
Doctors are prohibited by law from providing sex-affirming health care to transgender minors, including hormones, puberty blockers, and transitional surgeries.
Hutchinson said he had an issue with the bill that would affect patients who are currently in treatment and how it would affect the mental health of young people in the state.
“This is excessive government action,” he said at the press conference. “You are starting to let lawmakers interfere with health care and set a standard for prevailing health care legislation. The state should not pretend to engage in all ethical decisions in health matters.
LGTBQ rights activists, health professionals and other groups protested the bills because they were discriminatory and would lead to more serious mental health problems for young people.
The Trevor Project, a nonprofit that focuses on suicide prevention in the LGTBQ community, said half (52%) of transgender and non-binary youth had seriously considered suicide in the past year, compared to 40% of all LGBTQ youth respondents in 2020.
In a statement released Monday afternoon, Sam Brinton, vice president of advocacy and government affairs for The Trevor Project, called the governor’s veto “a great victory for transgender and non-binary youth in Arkansas.”
“We hope this action sends a message to other lawmakers across the country who are considering similar gender-affirming healthcare bans that would only work to endanger the lives of trans youth,” Brinton said in the press release.
Hutchinson has said the Republican Arkansas state legislature could override its veto, but called on state leaders to rethink the issue before acting.
“Government with a conservative philosophy must be retained. This is an example where restraint is preferable to overly broad actions that interfere with important relationships in our society,” Hutchinson told reporters.
The Arkansas Civil Liberties Union has said it will sue the state if the SAFE Act passes and constituents in a hurry to call their heads of state.
“This victory belongs to the thousands of Arkansans who spoke out against this discriminatory bill, especially young people, parents and pediatricians who have never stopped fighting this anti-trans attack,” the organization tweeted.
The SAFE Act is one of many bills introduced this year that LGTBQ supporters say undermines the rights of transgender Americans. Governor Hutchinson signed two bills during this session that the Arkansas ACLU said discriminated against gender.
One bill allows doctors to deny non-urgent medical treatment to a patient based on religious or moral objections, and the other prohibits transgender girls from participating in school sports teams consistent with their gender identity.
When asked on Monday, if he had changed his mind about signing those bills, Hutchinson said the bills were separate matters from the SAFE Act. For the salary bill, the governor said the legislation “conforms to freedom”, while the sports bill deals with issues that “undermine women’s sport”.
ABC News’s Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
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