Court: Arkansas can’t ban treatment of transgender kids

By ANDREW DeMILLO
Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal appeals court has agreed with a judge’s ruling preventing the state from enforcing a ban on transgender children receiving gender-affirming medical care. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling temporarily blocking the state from enforcing the 2021 law. Arkansas was the first state to enact such a ban. The law also prohibits doctors from referring patients elsewhere for gender-affirming care. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson vetoed the ban last year, but GOP lawmakers overrode him and enacted the measure. Multiple medical groups including the American Medical Association opposed the ban.