LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has signed legislation making it easier to sue health care workers who provide gender reassignment for children, a move that could effectively restore a stalled ban on such care.
Sanders signed the new law into law Monday, which won’t take effect until this summer. It would allow anyone who received sex-affirmation treatment as a minor to file a malpractice lawsuit against their doctor up to 15 years after they turned 18. Under current Arkansas law, medical malpractice claims must be filed within two years of the injury.
Legal experts said the change could close access to gender-specific care for children, making it nearly impossible for providers to obtain malpractice insurance.
“Arkansas unfortunately passed the first law in the country that seeks to ban gender-affirmation assistance for trans youth, and after hearing extensive evidence, the courts blocked that ban,” said Holly Dickson, executive director of the Union for Liberties American. . a declaration. “This bill is an effort to accomplish indirectly what the Constitution prohibits the state from doing directly.”
The new law is part of a growing number of transgender bills that have faced increasingly hostile rhetoric from state institutions. At least 175 anti-trans bills have been introduced in state houses so far this year, the most in a single year, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
The bill was signed as a federal judge considers whether to strike down a 2021 Arkansas law that would have banned doctors from giving sex-affirming hormone therapies or puberty blockers to anyone under 18 or referring them to others doctors who can provide such assistance. No minor sex-affirmation surgeries are performed in the state.
Republican Sen. Gary Stubblefield, who sponsored the malpractice bill, said he did not know if the measure would face a similar challenge in court.
“Anything can create a legal challenge in the world we live in today,” Stubblefield said. “I know I did what I thought was best for our kids.”
U.S. District Judge Jay Moody temporarily blocked the state’s ban on sex-based child care in 2021. Arkansas was the first state to enact such a ban, and several states have passed similar restrictions. A ban in Alabama was also blocked by a federal judge.
Opponents of such treatments argue that children are too young to make decisions about their future. But all major medical groups, including the American Medical Association, support the care of gender-affirming youth and have opposed the bans.
The malpractice legislation includes a “safe harbor” provision that would give doctors a defense against malpractice lawsuits over providing sex-affirmation assistance to children, but only if they followed restrictions that experts said were inconsistent with the standard of care for treatments.
The new law won’t go into effect until 90 days after the legislature adjourns this year, which shouldn’t be until next month.
The bill is among many aimed at transgender youth that have been proposed this year in Arkansas.
Others include legislation that would criminalize transgender adults for using the bathroom that matches their gender identity. The bill also goes further than a bathroom bill repealed in North Carolina following widespread boycotts.
Dickson urged Sanders to listen to trans youth and their caregivers before signing other bills that affect the LGBTQ community.
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