The state is one of 22 others with legislation targeting transgender healthcare within the past two and a half years.
www.forbes.com
US District Judge Jay Moody found the Arkansas law to be unconstitutional. This is the latest of similar cases, showing a solid trend in court decisions. The US Supreme Court has yet to weigh in on the issue, so the situation could still change, but things are looking grim for laws against gender-affirming care for kids.
I could be mistaken, but I think an argument can still be made for laws against gender reassignment surgery for children. However, health experts have been able to convince the courts that at least some treatments, such as puberty blockers and hormone treatments, are necessary in certain cases to prevent extreme depression and suicide.
I previously wasn't against outlawing puberty blockers for trans cases, since the FDA hasn't approved them for use in trans cases. But I now feel there's insufficient justification to prevent their use for trans cases, considering their consistent safe use in other situations, and also considering the results of the court cases.
Hopefully we'll get to see a decision by the US Supreme Court on laws like this before too long.
From the court's perspective, I get why they're erroring on the side of caution and opting to shutdown bans instead of upholding them. "Error on the side of freedom" is always the least risky move from a PR standpoint.
For instance, there are times where that type of treatment/intervention is helpful, and the judge who signs off on a flatout ban is going to forever have egg on their face the first time there's an instance of a person being denied a certain type of care (when it's applicable) that's being banned.
My main concern is how some of these pediatric gender care clinics operate and seemingly have the "everything is a nail to a person who only has hammers" mentality.
I've cited before the case of the one in Cincinnati (the 4th largest of its kind in the country), where the judge ruled against the parent who was trying to sue to block their child from getting the treatments based strictly on the specific details of that particular case, but took the opportunity to still express concerns about the fact that "this clinic has found that 100% of people presenting for care are suitable candidates for what they have to offer"
A good analogy would be when there was still debates going on about states offering medicinal marijuana.
No judge would want to be seen as the one responsible for denying a cancer patient something that would give them relief...at the same time, one would have to be a fool to think that outlier scenario (with regards to the people who were getting their medical cards) represented the lion's share of people who were partaking in the program.
The reality is, certain treatments are over-prescribed (people can see it with regards to painkillers, but on this topic, that skepticism seems to go out the window in favor of political correctness), If I were a judge, and someone was looking to ban certain narcotic painkillers, I would shoot down the ban, as I've seen what kind of suffering people go through with certain conditions and it's wrong to deny them that option, as the same time, I wouldn't want to see those things prescribed willy nilly to just any old person showing up saying "my back hurts"
In a nutshell, are there certain cases of gender dysphoria so intense that the the most humane thing to do is affirm (via social and medical intervention), yes...I feel there are.
Do I think everyone (especially young people who are impressionable and subject to regularly changing their positions and impulsiveness) who claims they're trans should be fast-tracked through the process? Absolutely not. But the polar extremes on this topic seem to be dominating the public discourse.
On one side, you have people who want to completely ban any and all affirming measures for people of any age...on the other side, you have people who suggest that if a 11 year old boy says "I feel like girl", we should immediately reach for the penis saw and estrogen supplements after a 20 minute questionnaire and 45 minute visit at a gender care clinic (that has a profit motive for performing as many affirming services as possible)
