Arkansas Urges Court to Uphold SAFE Act Following Supreme Court Ruling
On Thursday, the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office made a filing with the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in defense of the state’s law protecting children from sex-change procedures.
In 2021, Arkansas passed the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act prohibiting doctors from performing sex-change surgeries on children or giving them puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. Unfortunately, a federal judge blocked the law, and the SAFE Act is currently before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.
However, on Wednesday the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law protecting children from these same procedures, drugs, and hormones. That good ruling should pave the way for federal courts to let Arkansas enforce the SAFE Act as well.
On Thursday, Arkansas Solicitor General Autumn Hamit Patterson filed a letter with the Eighth Circuit informing the judges about the new court decision. The letter says the supreme court’s ruling reinforces the A.G.’s arguments that Arkansas’ SAFE Act is constitutional.
The letter notes that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tennessee’s law did not discriminate on the basis of sex or gender identity, and it argues that the SAFE Act should be upheld, in light of the ruling.
Sex-change procedures, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones can leave children permanently scarred, sterilized, and at risk of serious health conditions.
Last fall, medical experts at the organization Do No Harm released a report showing that from 2019 to 2023, dozens of children in Arkansas underwent sex-change surgeries or were prescribed puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.
Doctors do not know the long-term effects that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones might have on people. However, files leaked from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) organization make it clear that medical professionals performing gender-transitions on kids have been fully aware that these procedures can lead to lasting regret and complications — some of which may even be life-threatening.
Since 2021, a major hospital in Sweden has announced that it would no longer give puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to kids, the U.K. has adopted policies that protect children from puberty blockers, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has added a warning label to puberty blockers after discovering they caused some biological girls to experience swelling in the brain.
In a comprehensive study published last year, Finnish researchers found transgender surgeries did not appear to resolve the underlying emotional and mental issues that youth with gender dysphoria faced.
And gender clinics have been shown to rush children and families through the transition process without adequate informed-consent and mental health screenings.
Arkansas — and other states — need to be able to protect children from these procedures.
It’s great to see Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office urging the Eighth Circuit to let the state enforce the SAFE Act.
Arkansas’ SAFE Act is a good law that protects children.
We believe the Eighth Circuit will recognize that fact and let the state enforce this good law.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
