Arkansas' anti-trans bill has set a dangerous precedent, opening the door to transphobia and violence, experts say

• Arkansas recently passed the first trans medical ban for minors in the US.
• The ban would prevent minors from accessing life-saving care like HRT and puberty blockers.
• Experts say, if signed into law, the ban would set a dangerous precedent for trans medical care in the US.

Arkansas is on the brink of signing a law that would prohibit doctors from providing trans youth with life-saving gender-affirming care.

HB 1570, the "Protect Adolescents from Experimentation Act," was passed on Monday - the first anti-trans bill to be passed in any US state.

If signed into effect by Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, doctors would be charged with a felony for providing hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and puberty blockers - two common treatments from gender dysphoria - to minors.

Advocates say the law would set a dangerous legal precedent, if passed.

"Arkansas is racing with Alabama to be the first state in the country to have passed this kind of legislation," Kate Oakley, State Legislative Director and Senior Counsel for the Human Rights Campaign, told Insider. "We've never had legislation like this before, and they're both very close to having it become law."

This bill misrepresents trans care, and could provide an error-ridden blueprint for other states

According to Oakley, the trans medical bans seen across the US including Arkansas' are based on a misunderstanding of what gender-affirming care looks like for adolescents.

"I think what the proponents of this bill would like you to believe, or that trans children are being mistreated by their doctors and their parents who are seeking out this gender-affirming care for trans youth," Oakley said. "They've made all kinds of misrepresentations about what gender-affirming care for trans youth entails."

Trans youth who come out before puberty have to work with a therapist for at least a year and need to hit the beginning stages of puberty before they can access puberty blockers.

Once a child reaches the age of 12, 13, or 14, they and their parents can speak to their medical provider about starting such blockers, which have no permanent consequences but prevent them from experiencing bodily and hormonal changes.

"That rhetoric is so harmful and untrue and will cause truly lasting harm for these young people whose medical treatment is going to have to stop or never start in ways that could have profound impacts on the rest of their life," Oakley said.

Banning puberty blockers can have serious, life-threatening consequences, studies find

However, HB 1570 would make that process impossible until a trans person is 18, meaning having to go through puberty. There is plenty of research that shows puberty can be traumatic for many trans people, resulting in depression, anxiety, and even suicide.

"The consequences of this piece of legislation couldn't be more dire," Oakley told Insider.

Anti-trans legislation erodes trans rights, opening the door to transphobia and violence, experts say

If HB 1570 passes, advocates say it will open the door to more transphobic legislation in the US.

Currently, over 80 anti-trans bills are being considered in states across the US. They range from bathroom bans (preventing trans people from freely going to the restroom) to medical bans, and bills that would prevent trans girls from playing school sports.

The more that are signed into effect, the more trans rights are degraded in the US. Experts say that is especially concerning given the rise in violence against trans people across the country. Public health experts have long warned, in particular, of an epidemic of violence against Black trans women.

"The rhetoric used in the Arkansas ban - and others - is basically that being trans is not an authentic thing. That being trans is something that people put on in order to be able to get some kind of an advantage," Oakley said.

"That was certainly the rhetoric that we heard around bathrooms and trans women. That's the same argument that's being made around sports. That's the same argument that's been being deployed here, which is trans kids are not authentically trans people are not authentically trans."