The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued Arkansas on Tuesday to block a new law that will ban healthcare professionals in Arkansas from providing gender-affirming care to transgender youth. Gove.
Arkansas sued over its ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender youth
Some families say they have moved or may be forced to, if law barring medically necessary care stays in place.
Demonstrators protest anti-trans bills outside the Arkansas Capitol – Photo: Sydney Rasch/ACLU of Arkansas.
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against Arkansas state officials seeking to overturn a recently passed law that bars health care professionals from providing gender-affirming care to transgender minors.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of four transgender youths and their parents, as well as two physicians who specialize in treating gender dysphoria, also seeks a preliminary injunction to block the state from attempting to implement the new law. The ban on gender-affirming care also prohibits Medicaid from paying for any transition-related procedures on minors, and allows private insurers to deny coverage for transgender policy holders,
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The American Civil Liberties Union followed through on its promise to file a legal challenge to Arkansas’ newly signed law that prohibits gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth on Tuesday.
The ACLU filed suit in federal court against Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and the entire state medical board, including Arkansas State Medical Board executive director Amy E. Embry, on behalf of four trans youth and their families and two doctors. The lawsuit challenges that the trans-exclusionary bill, HB 1570, violates the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
“[HB 1570] violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because it discriminates on the basis of sex and transgender status by prohibiting certain medical treatments only for transgender patients and only when the care is ‘related to gender transition, ” the ACLU said in its complaint. “This discrimination cannot be justified under heightened scrutiny or any level of equa