In a previously anticipated move, Arkansas state lawmakers overrode a veto from Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson to become the first state in the country to ban transgender surgeries for minors under 18.
The state senate voted 25 to 8, and the state house voted 72 to 25, to override Hutchinson's rejection of the bill designed to protect children from life-altering procedures.
The new law prohibits doctors from giving hormone therapy, puberty blockers, or physical surgeries designed to impede normal biological development to anyone under 18. Hutchinson, who had previously signed a bill to bar transgender athletes from participation in women's sports, objected to the most recent law on the basis that it was "overly broad."
The law will go into effect in July, though the American Civil Liberties Union has already announced a lawsuit it intends to bring against the law's legitimacy and constitutionality in court.
