By Calvin Freiburger
\nLifeSite News<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Governor_Hutchinson_Official_medium_810_500_75_s_c1.jpg\")
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson<\/p><\/div>\n
LITTLE ROCK, April 6, 2021 (LifeSiteNews<\/a>) \u2013 The Arkansas legislature has overridden Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson\u2019s veto of legislation that would prohibit \u201csex-reassignment\u201d surgery or hormone treatments to minors afflicted with gender confusion, moving swiftly after the governor\u2019s rejection of the law.<\/p>\n The bill\u00a0specifically bars<\/a>\u00a0physicians from performing or referring for \u201cgender transition procedures\u201d on residents under age 18, as well as taxpayer dollars from being spent on such procedures for minors.<\/p>\n \u201cGender transition procedures\u201d are defined as \u201cany medical or surgical service\u201d that seeks to \u201calter or remove physical or anatomical characteristics or features that are typical for the individual\u2019s biological sex\u201d; or \u201cinstill or create physiological or anatomical characteristics that resemble a sex different from the individual\u2019s biological sex.\u201d<\/p>\n The legislation encompasses \u201cpuberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, or other mechanisms to promote the development of feminizing or masculinizing features in the opposite biological sex, or genital or nongenital gender reassignment surgery performed for the purpose of assisting an individual with a gender transition.\u201d<\/p>\n Hutchinson\u00a0vetoed<\/a>\u00a0the bill on Monday, calling it \u201coverreach\u201d that would \u201clet lawmakers interfere with healthcare and set a standard for legislation overriding healthcare.\u201d He also\u00a0claimed<\/a>\u00a0that the ban could somehow \u201clead to significant harms from suicide to drug use to isolation.\u201d<\/p>\n By Tuesday afternoon, however, both chambers of the Arkansas legislature had voted \u201coverwhelmingly\u201d to override Hutchinson\u2019s veto, THV 11\u00a0reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cArkansas\u2019 passage of the SAFE Act today is a resounding victory for biological sanity and common sense,\u201d Jon Schweppe of the American Principles Project responded in a press release. \u201cAs most Americans recognize, we should not be pressuring young children into undergoing highly experimental, life-altering procedures to \u2018change\u2019 their sex before they are even old enough to make most other major decisions. State lawmakers are right to slam the brakes on the ideologically driven campaign to push children into this risky pathway.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is unfortunate that the law\u2019s passage had to come over the veto of Gov. Hutchinson,\u201d Schweppe continued. \u201cWhile the governor claimed he was acting out of a conservative concern for restraining government, restraint is not always a good thing. The governor himself admitted that it was important for the state to act to protect life in preventing ideologically motivated doctors from performing abortions. The same principle obviously applies in this case as well, and we are grateful the legislature had the courage to act to protect the health and well-being of children.\u201d<\/p>\n Hutchinson\u2019s failed attempt to kill the new law follows South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem\u2019s\u00a0veto of legislation<\/a>\u00a0to keep biological males out of women\u2019s athletic programs, which Noem had previously claimed she would sign. That state\u2019s legislature failed to override her veto<\/p>\n