Trans youth healthcare trial wraps up

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KAIT) - The trial opposing an Arkansas ban on transgender youth healthcare has ended.

Our content partners, KARK-TV in Little Rock, reported the state called its final witness to the stand Thursday.

The federal bench trial is in response to the state’s passage of Act 626 in 2021.

The law, which U.S. District Judge Jay Moody temporarily blocked last year, prohibits doctors from providing gender-confirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers, or surgery to anyone under 18 years old. It also prohibits doctors from referring patients elsewhere for such care.

Four transgender teens and their doctors claim the law violates their constitutional due process and free speech protections.

During the trial, witnesses included various doctors, trans youth, and those who identify as formerly transgendered.

Judge Moody, who oversaw the trial, is not expected to make a decision for several weeks.

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