Arkansas first US state to ban treatment of trans minors | International

Arkansas became the first jurisdiction in the United States to legally ban hormone, blockade, or sex reassignment treatments. The rule went forward in the state legislature, with a large Republican majority, last week, but state governor, also Republican Asa Hutchinson, vetoed it on Monday when arrived at his table for the final signing, calling it “big government exaggerated” over the decisions of families and doctors. On Tuesday, the Senate and State House returned to vote and overcame the governor’s veto.

Arkansas is just one of several open trans rights battles in the country, where Republican lawmakers in at least 17 states are promoting different laws on the treatment of minors. Hutchinson had signed other regulations in this area, such as the one that prevents trans girls from participating in girls’ school sports or the one that allows doctors to refuse to offer treatment because of their religious or conscientious objection. Indeed, as he explained on Monday by justifying his veto, he would also have been prepared on this occasion to sign the rule if the text had been limited only to prohibiting sex reassignment surgery in minors, a practice which , in any case, neither one takes place in the state.

“This bill is extreme, excessive and does not exempt young people who are already in treatment. These young people will be left without treatment when this law comes into force, ”argued the governor, who stressed that he had made the decision after consulting with doctors and transgender people in the state.

This Tuesday, with 72 votes in favor against 25 against in the lower house and 25 against 8 in the Senate, the legislators canceled this veto. The 1570 rule will come into effect in July, but the great American Civil Rights and Freedoms Association (ACLU) has already argued it will take it to court. “The move ignores dozens of local doctors, national medical experts, as well as trans youth and their parents,” the organization said in a statement.

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