The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in May, asks U.S. District Judge Jay Moody of Little Rock to discard the law, which made Arkansas the first state to restrict doctors from providing gender-confirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers or sex reassignment surgery to patients under 18.
Doctors also may not refer patients under 18 for treatment under the law. The ACLU sought preliminary injunction while its lawsuit proceeded. The law had been set to take effect July 28.
“To pull this care midstream from these patients, or minors, would cause irreparable harm,” Moody said.
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The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of four transgender youths and their families, as well as two doctors who provide gender-confirming treatments. The lawsuit argues that the prohibition would severely harm transgender youth in the state and violate their constitutional rights.
“This ruling sends a clear message to states across the country that gender-affirming care is life-saving care, and we won’t let politicians in Arkansas — or anywhere else — take it away,” said Holly Dickson, executive director of the ACLU of Arkansas.
Arkansas’ Republican-dominated Legislature overrode GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto of the measure. Hutchinson vetoed the ban following pleas from pediatricians, social workers and the parents of transgender youths who said it would harm a community already at risk for depression and suicide.
