Following passage through the state House and Senate, Gov. Asa Hutchinson has vetoed a bill that bans transition-related health care for trans youths on Monday. On Tuesday the legislature overrode his veto. 

The bill would become the first of its kind to directly and specifically target trans healthcare in the U.S. 

“The bill is overbroad, extreme, and does not grandfather those young people who are currently under hormone treatment,” said Hutchinson in a press briefing on Monday.

The bill, HB1570, lays out penalties for doctors who provide gender-affirming care like hormone treatments and puberty blockers to trans minors, as well as those who refer patients to other healthcare providers for similar treatment. It also prohibits insurance companies from covering gender-affirming care.

HB1570 is opposed by the American Pediatrics Association, the American Psychological Association, and other leading organizations in child care and trans activism. The American Civil Liberties Union wrote in a statement, “This bill flies in the face of common decency, basic human rights, and the advice of every major medical association — not to mention federal law.”

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