For Immediate Release:
October 14, 2022
For press inquiries only, contact:
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Cameron Mixon (334) 242-7491
Attorney General Steve Marshall Files Second Appellate Court Brief Defending Arkansas Ban on Experimental Transgender Treatments for Children
(MONTGOMERY)—Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a second amicus brief in a federal appellate court defending an Arkansas law protecting children from devastating and irreversible experimental gender “transitioning” treatments. The Alabama-led, 20-state coalition filed its brief Thursday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
“Alabama, numerous other states, and many countries around the world have grown concerned about the skyrocketing number of children suffering from gender dysphoria and other forms of gender-related psychological distress,” said Attorney General Marshall. “We all agree that these vulnerable children need help. The question is how to help without causing serious long-term damage. Some doctors and clinics have responded by providing children with puberty-blocking drugs, large amounts of cross-sex hormones, and even surgeries that permanently alter minors’ bodies. But there is no solid basis to think these radical interventions are providing lasting benefits, and we know they are causing significant harms including weakening of bones, increases in cardiovascular disease, and permanent sterility.
“That is why a year before the State of Alabama passed legislation to protect minors from the irreversible and potentially dangerous effects of transgender treatments, Arkansas boldly enacted the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act. It remains one of the first laws in the country to prohibit gender transition procedures for minors, including the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgery. Not surprisingly, it was immediately challenged by the left. It has since been enjoined by a federal district court in Arkansas, and that injunction was upheld by the federal appeals court three-judge panel.
“Alabama led a 17-state coalition of attorneys general in defending Arkansas’s transgender treatments law in federal district court and we similarly led 19 states in supporting Arkansas in its appeal to the Eighth U.S. Court of Appeals last year. Now, Alabama is leading a 20-state coalition in filing a brief in support of Arkansas’s petition to receive full appellate court review of its law.”
Attorney General Marshall was joined in the brief by the attorneys general of Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
The Attorneys General brief can be read here.
[To access hyperlink, click PDF icon at upper right of press release]
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