Around New England

Massachusetts Attorney General Opposes Arkansas Law Banning Gender Transitioning For Minors

December 14, 2023

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell has signed onto a friend-of-the-court brief urging a federal appeals court to quash a state statute in Arkansas that allows minors to sue doctors for providing gender-transitioning surgery or hormone blockers.

Arkansas Senate Bill 199 (“An Act Concerning Medical Malpractice and Gender Transition In Minors …”), which the governor of Arkansas signed into law in March 2023, notes that medical authorities in Sweden, Finland, and the United Kingdom have distanced themselves from gender transitioning and “have since recommended psychotherapy as the first line of treatment for youth gender dysphoria.”

Supporters of the law say that children should not be subject to potentially permanent physical changes that may render them infertile to deal with what might be a passing misalignment between a person’s biological sex and the person’s gender identity.

“Puberty blockers are not fully reversible because, among other risks, puberty blockers may intensify a minor’s discordance and cause it to persist,” the Arkansas bill states.

Opponents of the law say the way to treat a disconnection between biological sex and gender identity is to assist the patient to switch genders.

“Denying medically necessary care to transgender teenagers harms their physical, emotional, and psychological health,” the pro-gender-transitioning brief states.

State attorneys general for 19 states and the attorney general for the District of Columbia signed the brief, which was put together by the California Attorney General’s office. All are Democrats.

The anti-Arkansas-law friend-of-the-court brief uses the term “gender-affirming” 25 times.

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