Transgender care malpractice inked

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday signed a bill that would allow a person injured by a “gender transition procedure” as a minor to bring a civil suit against the medical provider who performed the procedure.

Under Act 274, previously Senate Bill 199, a patient is allowed to bring legal action against a health provider up to 15 years after they turn 18.

While working its way through the legislature, the bill by Sen. Gary Stubblefield, R-Branch, sparked heated debate between supporters who said it was needed to protect minors and opponents who argued it would limit access to life-saving care for transgender people.

On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas issued a news release calling the act “an effort to achieve indirectly what the Constitution prohibits the state from doing directly.”

“This law is not based on science or evidence, and it is a direct attack on the fundamental rights, health, and well-being of Arkansas’ youth and those who care for them,” the release reads.

When asked if Sanders intended to sign the bill into law, spokeswoman Alexa Henning said last week in a written statement that Sanders “has said that she supports bills that protect our kids and will support legislation like this that does just that.”

The act defines a “gender transition procedure” as a medical procedure intended to alter “or remove physical or anatomical characteristics or features that are typical for the individual’s biological sex.” The act also addresses procedures that seek to instill “or create physiological or anatomical characteristics that resemble a sex different from the individual’s biological sex.”