Lawmakers in Arkansas overrode their governor's veto, enacting a ban on gender-affirming care and surgery for transgender youth, making it the first state in the country to pass such legislation.

What You Need To Know

  • Lawmakers in Arkansas overrode their governor's veto, enacting a ban on gender-affirming care and surgery for transgender youth, making it the first state in the country to pass such legislation

  • Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Monday vetoed the bill, calling it "overbroad" and "Extreme"

  • The legislation prohibits doctors from providing gender confirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers, or surgery to anyone under 18 years old, or from referring them to other providers for the treatment

  • Opponents have vowed to sue to block the measure before it takes effect this summer

The landmark legislation will prohibit doctors from providing gender confirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers, or surgery to anyone under 18 years old, or from referring them to other providers for the treatment.

The override only needed a simple majority – it passed easily in both chambers, with the House voting 72-25 and the Senate 25-8 in favor of the override.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, told reporters Monday that the bill was a "product of the cultural war in America" and took issue with the fact that it "does not grandfather young people currently on hormone treatment," calling the bill "overbroad" and "extreme."

Hutchinson went on to say that the bill was "well-intended but off course," noting that it would create "new standards of legislative interference with physicians and parents as they deal with some of the most complex and sensitive matters involving young people."

The governor's veto followed pleas from pediatricians, social workers, and the parents of transgender youth who said the measure would harm a community already at risk for depression and suicide. The ban was opposed by several medical and child welfare groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Hutchinson urged lawmakers to come back with a "more restrained approach" on the subject, though he expected the veto.

"We want to send a message of tolerance and diversity," he said.

Opponents have vowed to sue to block the measure before it takes effect this summer – late July at the earliest.

"This is a sad day for Arkansas, but this fight is not over — and we’re in it for the long haul," Holly Dickson, executive director of the ACLU of Arkansas, said in a statement.

It was the latest measure targeting transgender people that easily advanced in the Arkansas Legislature and other states this year. Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee’s governors have signed laws banning transgender girls and women from competing on school sports teams consistent with the gender identity.

Hutchinson recently signed a measure allowing doctors to refuse to treat someone because of moral or religious objections, a law that opponents have said could be used to turn away LGBTQ patients.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.