On Tuesday, a federal judge struck down Arkansas’ first-in-the-nation ban on gender-affirming treatment for trans youth.

In an 80-page ruling, U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. outlined how Arkansas’ “Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act” violated the due process and equal protection rights of transgender youth and families, as well as First Amendment rights of medical providers.

“Rather than protecting children or safeguarding medical ethics, the evidence showed that the prohibited medical care improves the mental health and well-being of patients,” the judge wrote. “And that, by prohibiting it, the State undermined the interests it claims to be advancing.”

The law, which Moody temporarily suspended in July 2021, would have prohibited doctors from providing gender-affirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers or surgery to anyone under 18 and barred medical professionals from referring patients elsewhere to receive such care.

Republican lawmakers implemented the ban in April 2021 despite a veto from then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who expressed concerns that the law excessively curtailed treatments for children already undergoing such care.

Four transgender adolescents and their families sued over the law shortly after. Two doctors who provide gender-affirming care to trans youth in the state were also among the plaintiffs.

The judge’s permanent injunction forbids state officials from enforcing the law, which Attorney General Tim Griffin planned to appeal.

While Moody’s ruling specifically concerns the Arkansas ban, LGBTQ+ advocates believe it could have wider implications, potentially discouraging future attempts to enact such bans in other states.

“This decision sends a clear message. Fear-mongering and misinformation about this health care do not hold up to scrutiny, it hurts trans youth and must end,” said Holly Dickson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arkansas. “Science, medicine and law are clear: Gender-affirming care is necessary to ensure these young Arkansans can thrive and be healthy.

Moody’s verdict echoes sentiments expressed by other judges in previous decisions that temporarily halted similar bans in Alabama and Indiana. Earlier this month, a federal judge temporarily blocked a Florida law that would have banned gender-affirming care for three transgender minors.

“This victory shows that these laws, when tested by evidence, are indefensible under any standard of constitutional review,” said Chase Strangio, Deputy Director for Transgender Justice at ACLU’s LGBTQ and HIV Project and helped represent the plaintiffs in the Arkansas case.

“We hope that this sends a message to other states about the vulnerability of these laws and the many harms that come from passing them.”