A bill filed at the Arkansas Legislature on Monday would help protect children from medical malpractice when it comes to sex-change procedures.

S.B. 199 by Sen. Gary Stubblefield (R – Branch) and Rep. Mary Bentley (R – Perryville) clarifies that a child who undergoes a sex-change procedure can sue the healthcare provider who performed procedure if the child suffers any physical, psychological, or emotional injury as a result.

Under S.B. 199, the child could file a lawsuit the if he or she experiences:

  • A physical or physiological injury from the sex-change procedure
  • A psychological or emotional injury from the sex-change procedure
  • An injury from treatments related to the sex-change procedure
  • An injury from the after-effects of the sex-change procedure

    A child who suffers one of these injuries from a sex-change procedure would have until the age of 48 to file a lawsuit against the healthcare provider, because some injuries from sex-change procedures may not become evident until well into adulthood.

    The bill also spells out informed-consent processes for sex-change procedures that healthcare providers can follow to help defend against the possibility of a lawsuit, and it clarifies that Arkansas law does not require healthcare professionals to perform sex-reassignment procedures.

    More and more, scientific evidence shows sex-reassignment procedures may be harmful to children. That is why it is important for our laws to protect children from these procedures and give them legal options they can follow if they are harmed by one of these sex-change procedures.

    Research published just last month calls into question the original studies that encouraged doctors to give puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children with gender dysphoria.

    In 2021 a major hospital in Sweden announced that it would no longer give puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to kids.

    Last year the U.K.’s National Health Services closed its Tavistock gender clinic that gave puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children for many years. Many families have indicated their children were subjected to sex-reassignment at that clinic despite an obvious lack of scientific evidence in favor of the procedures and inadequate mental health screenings for children with gender dysphoria.

    A gender-identity clinic in Scotland faces similar accusations from former patients who say healthcare professionals rushed them into sex-change procedures.

    And last July the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finally added a warning label to puberty blockers in America after biological girls developed symptoms of tumor-like masses in the brain.

    S.B. 199 will help protect children from these dangerous sex-reassignment procedures, and it will provide them and their families with legal recourse if they are injured by a sex-change procedure.

    You Can Read S.B. 199 Here.

    Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.