Arkansas governor vetoes ban on treatment for transgender youth

Arkansas’ governor on Monday vetoed a ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth, calling the legislation a “vast government overreach” and a “product of the cultural war in America.”

Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson said that if signed into law, the bill would interfere with physicians and parents “as they deal with some of the most complex and sensitive matters involving young people.”

The bill, which is part of a wave of similar legislation across the country, would have banned doctors from providing transgender minors with gender-affirming treatments such as puberty blockers, hormone therapies and transition-related surgeries, or referring them for such treatments. Republican lawmakers in at least 17 other states have introduced similar bans on medical treatments for transgender minors, despite opposition from major pediatric and psychiatric organizations.

Because it takes a simple majority to override a governor’s veto in Arkansas, Hutchinson acknowledged that the general assembly is likely to override the veto, given the overwhelming support for the bill in the state legislature.

“I’m hopeful, though, that my action will cause conservative Republican legislators to think through the issue again and hopefully come up with a more restrained approach,” Hutchinson said.

Arkansas was the first state to send such a bill to a governor’s desk, after lawmakers last week voted 28-7 in favor of the legislation. While Hutchinson had not previously discussed his position on the bill, transgender advocates had braced for him to sign it, given his support of other legislation restricting transgender rights. Last month, he signed into law a ban on transgender girls competing in school sports consistent with their gender identity, as well as a bill allowing doctors to refuse treatment to a patient based on religious or moral objections.

Hutchinson said he came to his decision after hearing out the concerns of transgender people and doctors in his state. He cited opposition from leading national medical associations who feared that denying access to this medical care could result in “significant harm” to transgender young people.

“The bill is overbroad, extreme and does not grandfather those young people who are currently under hormone treatment,” Hutchinson said. “The young people who are currently under a doctor’s care will be without treatment when this law goes into effect. That means they will be looking to the black market or go out of state … to find the treatment that they want and need. This is not the right path to put them on.”