A federal judge in Arkansas has overturned the ban on gender affirming care for children under 18 years of age.

Arkansas became the first state in the nation to ban doctors from providing gender affirming treatments to youth who identify as transgender after overturning the then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson vetoed the ban for 2021.

The trial lasted for several weeks in the fall of 2022.

Details: District judge Jay Moody who issued a permanent ban against the ban previously said that the law violates rights under the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment of transgender children, their parents, and their medical providers.

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Moody, appointed by the former president Obama, stated that the state had failed to prove its claim that it was necessary to ban treatments ineffective or experimental to protect adolescents, as claimed.

Moody wrote: “Rather than protect children or safeguard medical ethics, evidence showed that the forbidden medical care improved the mental health of patients, and that by prohibiting it the State undermined its own interests.”

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tim Griffin, Arkansas’ attorney general, intends to appeal the decision of the judge to the Court of Appeals of the Eighth Circuit.

The governor stated on social media that “only in the far-Left’s woke vision” of America, is it inappropriate to protect children.

What they are saying: “I am so grateful that the judge heard how this health care changed my life, and saw the danger this law could cause to my life, and the lives of countless others transgender,” said Dylan Brandt (17-year-old Arkansas transgender) in a Tuesday statement.

State Rep. Robin Lundstrum, R-Elm Springs, a leading author of the bill, said to Axios that she had not read the judge’s opinion and would therefore refrain from commenting, but suggested that the legal fight may not be over.

She said, “It’s sad to hear that.” It’s a sad time for Arkansas.

Oriana Gonzalez of Axios reports on the big picture. Over a dozen state laws have been passed that limit or ban gender affirming care for people who are transgender.

Kansas, South Carolina, and Oklahoma are all considering legislation that would prohibit care for those under 21. Texas is also looking at a law banning people under 26.

Some courts in different states have stopped the enforcement of these bans.

A federal judge temporarily blocked a part of Indiana’s prohibition that was to take effect on July 1.