U.S. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas backs the Arkansas legislature’s action to stop doctors in the state from performing gender-transition surgeries on minors or prescribing puberty-blocking hormones to minors who identify as transgender.
“I support our legislature’s action to protect children from dangerous, life-altering, irreversible harms,” Cotton tells National Review in a statement.
In order to enact the law, the state legislature on Tuesday overrode the veto of Republican governor Asa Hutchinson.
On Tuesday night, Hutchinson was grilled by Fox News host Tucker Carlson about the veto.
“Let’s let parents and doctors make decisions,” Hutchinson said.
“Then why don’t we allow 18-year-olds to drink beer in Arkansas? Why don’t we allow them to get tattoos? Why don’t we allow 15-year-olds to get married?” Carlson replied. “You vetoed a bill that would’ve protected children — not adults, children, to whom a different standard applies — from a life-altering, permanent procedure.”