A federal judge overturned Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming care for children on Tuesday after deeming it unconstitutional. Arkansas was the first state in the U.S. to pass such a ban in 2021, and other red states later followed suit. Now, it’s the first state to have such a restriction overruled completely. U.S. District Judge Jay Moody issued a permanent injunction against the law, which would have banned doctors from giving gender-affirming care—including puberty blockers, hormone treatment or surgery—to any minors, and also banned them from referring patients elsewhere for that treatment. The ban on referrals violated doctors’ First Amendment rights, Moody ruled, while the ban on treatment violated the due process and equal protection rights of transgender children and families. “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,” Moody wrote.
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