Arkansas Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson vetoed a bill on Monday that would restrict health care procedures for transgender minors. Transgender rights have become a new flash point for Republican lawmakers across the country.
“I was told this week that the nation is looking to Arkansas because on my desk I have another bill passed by the General Assembly that is a product of America’s cultural war,” Hutchinson told reporters as he read his veto.
He said the bill “ while well-intentioned, of course, is wrong, ” citing it as an example of “ massive government overruns ” that would lead to “ legislative interference on the part of doctors and people.”
The bill, called the Save Adolescents From Experimentation Act, would have banned sex reassignment treatments, including surgery and hormone therapy, for people under the age of 18. Arkansas would be the first state in the nation to ban these practices if Hutchinson signed it.
The governor further criticized the bill for not continuing to care for transgender youth who have already received these treatments.
“We want to send a message of tolerance and diversity,” he said.
The GOP-led Arkansas House and Senate passed the bill last month, mostly through party lines. Republicans have enough votes to override Hutchinson’s veto by simple majority – something the governor said he is already anticipating.
“However, I am hopeful that my action will cause conservative Republican lawmakers to rethink the issue and hopefully come up with a more understated approach that allows for a thoughtful study of the science and ethics surrounding the issue before we act,” said he. .
CBS News sought comment from Arkansas State Representative Robin Lundstrum and Senator Alan Clark, two Republicans who were the bill’s lead sponsors.
Hutchinson’s veto comes less than two weeks after he signed two other bills limiting LGBT rights.
Under one bill, doctors can refuse treatment of patients on the basis of religious or moral objections – a move that critics say would allow LGBT people to be rejected.
The other bill bans transgender women and girls from participating in women’s sports teams. Arkansas was the second state in the US to pass such legislation – after Idaho, whose law has been discontinued by a federal judge.
At least 25 states have proposed similar measures. Four states have so far enacted the bans.
The South Dakota Legislature adopted a ban about transgender women playing on the women’s sports team, but Republican Governor Kristi Noem said she didn’t believe the bills would survive legal challenges, and instead issued an executive ban last week.
The wave of bans comes after President Biden reversed many of the Trump administration’s LGBT restrictions, including a military ban on transgender people.