A full circuit court has affirmed Arkansas’s law that bans medical professionals from performing body-altering gender transition procedures on minors.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit delivered the ruling on Tuesday, upholding the Save Adolescents From Experimentation Act, or Act 626. The court reversed a prior lower court decision and remanded the case for further proceedings.
Circuit Judge Duane Benton, a George W. Bush appointee, authored the majority opinion, stating that “the Act does not discriminate on the basis of sex” and that it “regulates a class of procedures, not people.”
He further justified the law by writing, “The Act is rationally related to the state’s legitimate interest in protecting the well-being of minors,” and that “it does not violate this Nation’s historical concept of ordered liberty for the people of Arkansas, through their legislature, to prohibit physicians from providing gender transition procedures for minors.”
In a separate opinion, Circuit Judge Jane Kelly, a Barack Obama appointee, concurred in part and dissented in part. She was joined in her dissent by Circuit Judge James Loken, a George H.W. Bush appointee.
Kelly argued that there was “a startling lack of evidence connecting Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming care with its purported goal of protecting children.”
The law was sponsored by State Rep. Robin Lundstrum, R-District 87. Lundstrum expressed her support saying, “I am so grateful for the members of the Arkansas Legislature who stood up for children and families. No child can possibly consent to chemical or surgical castration under the age of 18, or possibly understand the long-term and serious health implications that accompany these experimental procedures.”
Arkansas lawmakers passed the SAFE Act in April 2021, overriding then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto. The legislation made Arkansas the first state to ban the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries that mutilate sex organs in gender dysphoric youth.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the law in May 2021 on behalf of multiple minors and their families. A lower court initially blocked the law, citing the ongoing litigation. However, over a dozen state attorneys general filed an amicus brief in defense of Arkansas’s law.
In August 2022, a three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit ruled unanimously to uphold the lower court's decision, with Kelly noting in her court opinion that “the plaintiffs will suffer irreparable harm” if they are not granted “a preliminary injunction.”
