The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the state of Arkansas, state Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and members of the Arkansas State Medical Board, arguing that a recently passed law limiting transition-related health care to minors in the state not only discriminates against transgender people but also violates physicians’ First Amendment rights. Plaintiffs in the suit include four trans youths and their parents, as well as two physicians who provide gender-affirming health care.
Jo Yurcaba of NBC News has reported that “Arkansas’ law would not only ban physicians from providing transition-related care, but it would also bar them from referring trans minors to other providers who provide transition care. Additionally, it would prevent state funds, such as Medicaid funds, from covering gender-affirming health care for trans people under 18, and, according to the ACLU, it would allow private insurers to refuse coverage for transition care for people of any age.”
Lawyers for the ACLU argue that the ban violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, “because it discriminates on the basis of sex and transgender status by prohibiting certain medical treatments only for transgender patients and only when the care is ‘related to gender transition.’” In other words, the same medications, such as hormones and puberty blockers, could be prescribed to cisgender minors if they aren’t for transition-related purposes.
