Federal Judge Declares Arkansas Law Banning Gender-Transition Treatments for Minors Unconstitutional

Judge James Moody Jr. of the Eastern District of Arkansas struck down the state’s ban on gender-transition treatments for those under the age of 18.

An increasing number of states are enacting protections for minors, limiting some combination of transition surgeries, hormone treatments, and puberty blockers. Arkansas banned all of these treatments and was sued by the families of four young persons on various constitutional grounds.

The trial before Moody, who was appointed by President Obama, was the first in the nation to address the issue of gender-transition procedures for minors.

House Bill 1570, the law in question, was originally passed in 2021. Former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchison vetoed it, calling it “government overreach,” but the legislature overrode the veto, allowing it to become law.

The plaintiffs sued claiming violations of the Equal Protection Clause, Due Process Clause, and the First Amendment. There were also fact-based disputes on the efficacy and propriety of such treatments as applied to minors.

According to Moody’s ruling, “the evidence at trial showed that the prohibited medical care improves the health and well-being of many adolescents with gender dysphoria.” Probing the statements of the plaintiff and defense experts, Moody explained that the high bar necessary for the state to clear to intervene had not been passed. “The State has failed to prove that its interests in the safety of Arkansas adolescents from gender transitioning procedures or the medical community’s ethical decline are compelling, genuine, or even rational,” wrote Moody.

The judge held for the plaintiffs on all of the constitutional questions, holding the law discriminates against transgender people, violates the due-process right of parents to make decisions for minors, and violates the First Amendment by preventing physicians from referring patients for such treatments.

Arkansas governor Sarah Sanders condemned the ruling in a tweet on Tuesday. “This is not ‘care’ – it’s activists pushing a political agenda at the expense of our kids and subjecting them to permanent and harmful procedures,” the governor wrote.

“We will fight this and the Attorney General plans to appeal Judge Moody’s decision to the Eighth Circuit,” she added.

The decision could have a ripple effect on the bans in the 19 other states that have acted on this issue. Two other federal judges — Robert Hinkle of the Northern District of Florida and James Hanlon of the District of Indiana — have issued preliminary injunctions against Florida and Indiana’s bans.

Given the number of challenges being filed and the possibility of a circuit split in the near future, the nation’s high court may be presented with the question relatively soon.