Arkansas legislature overrode veto to enact HB1570/Act 626, banning gender-affirming care for minors

On April 6, 2021, the Arkansas House voted 72-25 and the Senate voted 25-8 to override Governor Asa Hutchinson's veto and enact HB1570 as Act 626, the "Arkansas Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act." The law prohibits physicians and other healthcare professionals from providing gender-transition procedures — puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or gender-reassignment surgery — to anyone under 18, and bars referrals for such care. The same act separately bars public funds and Medicaid from covering gender-transition procedures for minors, and prohibits private health benefit plans from reimbursing such care for anyone under 18.

Arkansas was the first state to enact a law of this kind, doing so over the governor's own veto. Hutchinson had vetoed the bill days earlier, warning it represented government overreach into medical decisions. The law was immediately challenged in Brandt v. Rutledge (later Brandt v. Griffin).

Updates

2023-06-20 — District court permanently enjoined the law [3]

A federal district court in the Eastern District of Arkansas entered judgment for the plaintiffs in Brandt v. Rutledge, permanently enjoining the state from enforcing Act 626 after finding it violated equal protection, due process, and First Amendment rights.

2025-08-12 — Eighth Circuit reversed, upholding the ban [3]

In an 8-2 decision in Brandt v. Griffin, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed the district court's judgment, holding the law survived rational-basis review, and remanded the case — allowing Arkansas to enforce the ban.