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Kuar listen live8/27/2023 Lawmakers in both chambers easily overrode Hutchinson's veto the following day, clearing the way for the law to take effect later that year. In Arkansas, a simple majority vote is required in both the House and Senate to override a governor's veto. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, vetoed the bill, saying it would interfere with families' private healthcare decisions. While Republicans enjoy a comfortable supermajority in both chambers of Arkansas' legislature, Act 626's passage was not without controversy.Īfter hearing hours of testimony from advocates and trans youth, lawmakers gave final approval to the bill in April of 2021. It adds the law discriminates against minors based on their sex since it would not prohibit minors from accessing gender-affirming care if it aligns with their sex assigned at birth. The ruling also finds the law violates Arkansans' due process rights by taking away parents' ability to make decisions regarding their child's healthcare. Moody agreed, saying restricting speech related only to "gender transition procedures" was a First Amendment violation. The ACLU had argued Arkansas' law limited physicians' free speech rights by prohibiting them from referring patients to other providers for gender-affirming care. Constitution: the First Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Moody's ruling says Act 626 violated three parts of the U.S. In a statement posted to Twitter Tuesday night, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin wrote, "Judge Moody misses what is widely known: There is no scientific evidence that any child will benefit from these procedures, while the consequences are harmful and often permanent. "I'm so grateful the judge heard my experience of how this health care has changed my life for the better and saw the dangerous impact this law could have on my life and that of countless other transgender people," said Dylan Brandt, a transgender teenager and one of the plaintiffs in the case. Alabama, Florida and Indiana have similar laws on the books, all of which are temporarily on hold. Judge Moody previously blocked the law days before it was set to take effect in 2021.Īrkansas became the first state in the nation to ban gender-affirming care for trans minors when lawmakers passed Act 626 in 2021. The American Civil Liberties Union brought the suit on behalf of families of transgender teens and two physicians. "The testimony of well-credentialed experts, doctors who provide gender-affirming medical care in Arkansas, and families that rely on that care directly refutes any claim by the State that the Act advances an interest in protecting children." "Rather than protecting children or safeguarding medical ethics, the evidence showed that the prohibited medical care improves the mental health and well-being of patients and that, by prohibiting it, the State undermined the interests it claims to be advancing," the ruling reads. The verdict comes after an eight-day trial in December, where several of the state's witnesses admitted they didn't have experience treating transgender teens, and offered no evidence to dispute decades of scientific research. The 80-page ruling says depriving trans minors of treatments like hormone therapy would cause them irreparable harm, and that delaying care until adulthood would force teens to go through changes inconsistent with their gender identity. Constitution when it banned all gender-affirming treatments for people under 18. on Tuesday says the state of Arkansas violated several sections of the U.S. – A federal judge has permanently blocked the country's first law banning gender-affirming care for minors, signaling a victory for LGBTQ advocates.
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