An Arkansas law banning transgender medical procedures for minors can now be enforced. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit voted 8-2 to overturn a previous block on the legislation, allowing the Save Adolescents From Experimentation Act (SAFE) to take effect. The law stops doctors from performing transgender procedures on minors or referring them for such care.
“The question is whether this Nation’s history and tradition… support the right of a parent to obtain for his or her child a medical treatment that… the state legislature deems inappropriate for minors. This court finds no such right in this Nation’s history and tradition,” the majority wrote.
The decision follows the Supreme Court’s June ruling upholding Tennessee’s ban on transgender procedures for minors. Judges in Arkansas referenced the Tennessee case multiple times in their opinion.
SAFE bans procedures such as breast removal in girls who identify as boys, genital surgeries, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones for minors. These treatments can lead to irreversible effects on bone density, fertility, and development. Arkansas was the first state to pass such a law, and now over two dozen states have followed.
The law was originally blocked in July 2021 by a district judge after a lawsuit filed by four minors and two medical professionals. They argued it violated the First Amendment and the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.
“To the contrary, the Act does not classify based on transgender status,” the judges wrote. “Like the Tennessee law upheld by the Supreme Court, the Act effectively divides minors into two groups. In one group are minors seeking drugs or surgeries for the purposes that the Act prohibits. In the other group are minors seeking drugs or surgeries for purposes the Act does not prohibit.”
Arkansas Republican leaders praised the ruling. “I applaud the court’s decision and am pleased that children in Arkansas will be protected from experimental procedures,” Attorney General Tim Griffin said.
“This is a win for common sense — and for our kids,” Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders posted on X. “Arkansas’ first-in-the-nation law to protect kids from life-altering gender experiments is back in effect!”