Republicans in the Arkansas House and Senate have just passed a bill that would ban physicians and other medical professionals from providing medically-necessary treatment and services to transgender minors.
If Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson, who has already signed several anti-LGBTQ bills into law this month, signs HB 1570, experts warn transgender youths’ lives will be at risk.
Calling it “one of the most extreme and harmful anti-trans bills in the country,” the ACLU warned in a brief before the bill was passed that if signed, “it will be the most extreme piece of anti-trans legislation ever signed into law.” Lawmakers misnamed the legislation the “Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act.” Monday’s Senate vote was 28-7.