Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson Signs Bill Allowing Medical Workers To Deny LGBTQ Patients
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed a new bill on Friday (Mar. 26) allowing medical workers to deny LGBTQ patients treatment — in addition to others based on their religions alignments.
In a statement, Hutchinson said, “I support this right of conscience so long as emergency care is exempted and conscience objection cannot be used to deny general health service to any class of people. Most importantly, the federal laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, sex, gender, and national origin continue to apply to the delivery of health care services.”
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Meanwhile, another bill — which will stop gender confirming treatments and surgery for minors in the state — will earn its final vote on Monday. Combatting the decision is the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) of Arkansas. Specifically, the Executive Director Holly Dickson, who says, “There is no sugarcoating this: this bill is another brazen attempt to make it easier to discriminate against people and deny Arkansans the health care services they need.”
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Arkansas is poised to become the first and only state to criminalize health care for trans people.
It is up to Governor Hutchinson to veto the bill proposing this legislation. https://t.co/IheoshjkJZ
— ACLU (@ACLU) March 26, 2021