Arkansas Empowering Minors to File Malpractice Lawsuits Against ‘Gender Transition’ Practitioners

The bill can hold health professionals promoting such practices accountable in the state

Demonstrators share about Detransition Awareness Day in Los Angeles on March 12, 2022. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

A law proposed in Arkansas seeks to allow minors or their representatives to file a civil action lawsuit against healthcare professionals who performed “gender transition” procedures on them.

Senate Bill 199, sponsored by Republican Senator Gary Stubblefield, received endorsement from a Senate panel on Monday. “A healthcare professional who performs a gender transition procedure on a minor is liable to the minor if the minor is injured, including without limitation any physical, psychological, emotional, or physiological injury, by the gender transition procedure, related treatment, or the after effects of the gender transition procedure or related treatment,” SB199 (pdf) states.

A minor injured as a result of the “gender transition procedure” or a parent or legal guardian of the injured minor can bring a civil action against the healthcare professional who performed the procedure for compensatory damages, punitive damages, declaratory or injunctive relief, and attorney’s fees and costs.

The civil action has to be filed within 30 years after the minor turns 18 years old. In case the individual dies before the age of 18, the civil action has to be filed within 30 years of when the minor would have turned 18. At present, most medical malpractice cases in the state only have a two-year statute of limitations.

Gender Altering Drugs, Safe Harbor Laws

SB199 defined “gender transition procedure” as including any medical or surgical device, physician services, or prescribed drugs that seeks to “alter or remove physical or anatomical characteristics or features that are typical for the individual’s biological sex.”

The definition also applies to instilling or creating physiological or anatomical characteristics on an individual’s body that resemble a different biological sex. The bill specifically mentions puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones.

“Medical authorities in Sweden, Finland, and the United Kingdom have since recommended psychotherapy as the first line of treatment for youth gender dysphoria, with drugs and surgeries reserved as a measure of last resort. Medical authorities in France have advised ‘great caution’ when prescribing hormones for gender dysphoria,” the bill states.

SB199 cites cross-sex hormone use in males as being associated with “numerous health risks,” like thromboembolic disease that can lead to blood clots, coronary artery disease that can trigger heart attacks, blood cancer, and irreversible infertility. In females, the use of cross-sex hormones can cause “severe” liver dysfunction, coronary artery disease, and increased risk of breast cancer, it said.

SB199 includes “safe harbor” provisions that protect healthcare professionals who conduct “gender transition procedure” for valid reasons.

For this, healthcare professionals have to document a minor’s perceived gender or sex for two continuous years.

If the minor suffered from mental health concerns, at least two healthcare professionals, including a mental health professional, must certify in writing that a “gender transition procedure” was the only way to treat the issue.

There have been several cases of minors who have experienced medical complications as a result of gender transitioning.

At the age of 12, Chloe Cole, a biological female, told her parents that she wanted to transition to a boy. She started with puberty blockers, then moved on to cross-sex hormones, and eventually had a double mastectomy.

Six years later, Cole now regrets her decision. She began detransitioning and has seen her menstrual cycle return. But things are still tough.

“I had gotten some urinary tract issues from taking testosterone after about a year,” Cole said in an interview with The Epoch Times. “And by going off of it, and it got worse about tenfold, and I very quickly dropped weight, I lost my appetite and in a matter of only about two months, I dropped about 25 pounds give or take.”

“I’m not quite sure about you know, my fertility status, whether I’ll be able to conceive a child or even safely carry. There’s just there’s a lot of unknowns and I’m still experiencing complications.”

Protecting Minors From Gender Agenda

Arkansas has pushed multiple laws to protect minors from gender ideologies. The Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act of 2021 sought to ban physicians from offering “gender transition” treatments like puberty blockers, hormones, and surgeries to individuals below the age of 18 years.

SAFE Act became law in Arkansas in May 2021. However, a U.S. District judge blocked the law from getting enforced in July 2021. The matter is awaiting a ruling following a trial last year.

In January, the Arkansas Senate voted to approve legislation that would classify drag performances as “adult-oriented business,” effectively banning its exposure to minors. However, legislators had to later amend the bill to enable it to hold up in court, removing the word “drag.”

In a Jan. 31 video, former President Donald Trump vowed to sign a string of executive orders if he is elected in 2024 to target “gender-affirming health care” to prevent the “chemical, physical, and emotional mutilation of our youth.”