Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin vowed to appeal a federal judge’s ruling on Tuesday that said a ban on sex-change procedures for minors in the state was unconstitutional.
Griffin, a former Republican congressman and lieutenant governor, said he was “disappointed” by the ruling from U.S. District Judge Jay Moody, which permanently blocked a law that would have forbidden doctors from providing hormones, puberty blockers, and sex-change surgeries for minors.
“I am disappointed in the decision that prevents our state from protecting our children against dangerous medical experimentation under the moniker of ‘gender transition.’ Unfortunately, Judge Moody misses what is widely understood across the United States and in the United Kingdom and European countries: There is no scientific evidence that any child will benefit from these procedures, while the consequences are harmful and often permanent. I will continue fighting as long as it takes to stop providers from sterilizing children,” Griffin said in a statement.
He said Arkansas would appeal the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit. The case will likely be randomly assigned to a panel of three judges on the court. Of the 11 Article III judges, ten were appointed by Republican presidents, and one was appointed by former President Barack Obama (D).
Moody, an Obama appointee, said that the law would harm children’s mental health.
“Rather than protecting children or safeguarding medical ethics, the evidence showed that the prohibited medical care improves the mental health and well-being of patients and that, by prohibiting it, the state undermined the interests it claims to be advancing,” he wrote.
Moody’s analysis stands in sharp contrast to many medical journals that warn of the dangers of such treatments and provide little evidence of benefits to minors, as highlighted in a recent hearing in the House Subcommittee on Health.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP
The surgeries banned by the law include double mastectomies on girls who identify as boys and other irreversible genital procedures.
As more states have banned transgender procedures on minors, leftist activists and groups like the ACLU have moved to block the implementation of the laws through the courts.
Federal judges in Indiana and Florida have blocked the full implementation of their laws, while Alabama has also had its law partially blocked. Additionally, President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice has moved to sue Tennessee over its law aimed at shielding children from life-altering procedures.
Anthony Cash contributed to this report.