Four families of transgender youth and two doctors have challenged an Arkansas law that would prohibit healthcare professionals from providing or even referring transgender young people for medically necessary health care. The law would also bar any state funds or insurance coverage for gender-affirming health care for transgender people under 18, and it would allow private insurers to refuse to cover gender-affirming care for people of any age. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges that House Bill 1570 is a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

The issue in the case is whether federal prisoners who could not — because established law stood firmly against them — and therefore did not challenge their convictions can challenge those convictions when the Supreme Court later overrules the prior precedent upon which their convictions were based, making them legally innocent of the crime of conviction.

On July 28, 2017, the U.S. District Court granted plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction, thereby blocking enforcement of four challenged Arkansas laws restricting abortion care in the state until the litigation is resolved.

In 2019, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit challenging three Arkansas laws that sought to severely restrict abortion rights in the state. These laws would ban abortion care starting at 18 weeks of pregnancy, ban abortion based on the woman’s reason for her decision, and prohibit qualified physicians from continuing to safely provide abortion care for no conceivable health or medical purpose, thereby imposing an unconstitutional burden on patients seeking abortion care in the state. In 2019, we successfully obtained a preliminary injunction, blocking these laws from taking effect. In January of 2021 the Eighth Circuit affirmed the preliminary injunction of the 18-week ban and ban based on a patient’s reason for seeking care.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Arkansas, and Planned Parenthood Federation filed a lawsuit challenging Arkansas’s new total ban on abortion.