Last week the U.S. District Court in Little Rock announced the lawsuit over Arkansas’ Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act will go to trial sometime during the week of October 17, 2022.
The court previously scheduled the trial to take place during the week of July 25, but apparently rescheduled the trial in a Revised Final Scheduling Order on February 28.
The Arkansas Legislature overwhelmingly passed the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act last year.
The SAFE Act is an excellent law that protects children from sex-reassignment procedures, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones.
Researchers do not know the long term effects that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones can have on kids.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has never approved puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for the purpose of gender transition. Doctors are giving these hormones to kids off-label, in a manner the FDA never intended.
That is part of the reason many experts agree that giving puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children is experimental, at best.
That is also why a major hospital in Sweden announced last year that it would no longer administer puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children.
Unfortunately, the ACLU and others filed a lawsuit against the SAFE Act last summer, before the law officially took effect.
Several business interests and the Biden-Harris Administration also have joined the fight against Arkansas’ SAFE Act.
Last July, U.S. District Judge James Moody temporarily blocked the state from enforcing the law while the lawsuit progresses. Arkansas’ Attorney General has asked the Eighth Circuit to lift his order so that the state can start enforcing the law right away.
In the meantime, the lawsuit over the SAFE Act’s constitutionality is progressing and will go to trial this fall. It is unclear when Judge Moody’s court might make a decision in the case.
Arkansas’ SAFE Act protects children. We believe federal courts ultimately will recognize that fact and uphold this good law as constitutional.
