Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, a fervent reinforcer of COVID fascism, claims the banning of genital mutilation for minors is “vast government overreach.”
Governor Hutchinson is not known for taking a laissez-faire approach to public health and safety in the Natural State. Ironically, the governor has now decided it is not the role of the state government to intervene in the personal health choices of Arkansas residents. This comes after waiting an entire year to end his state’s mask mandate and fining businesses that did not comply with draconian lockdowns. Just last week, Hutchinson’s heavy hand vetoed another piece of legislation that would return fines levied against law-abiding business owners during the pandemic.
The “conservative” governor spoke out against the Arkansas Save Adolescents From Experimentation Act yesterday after state legislators voted to override his veto:
“You are starting to let lawmakers interfere with health care and set a standard for legislation overriding health care . . . the state should not presume to jump into every ethical health decision.”
The bill prohibits youth hormone therapy “treatments,” the prescription of puberty blockers, and the alteration or removal of functional body parts on minors. The bill does not restrict access to these procedures for adults.
On Tuesday, the state legislature voted to override the governor’s veto 71-24 in the House and 25-8 in the Senate. The Arkansas state legislature needs only a simple majority to override an executive veto. The veto comes as a major disappointment to conservatives who praised Hutchinson’s signing of SB 354, a bill banning biological males from competing against females in non-coeducational sports.
Governor Asa Hutchinson appeared on Tucker Carlson’s program Tuesday night in staunch defense of his decision. Hutchinson claims that if the bill simply banned chemical castration, he would have signed it. He continued to call the bill “overbroad” and “extreme,” expressing concerns that it does not include a grandfather clause for young people who have already begun hormone treatments. Tucker argued that in the state of Arkansas minors are unable to get married, have a beer, or even get a tattoo – alluding to the life-altering ramifications of permanent gender reassignment procedures. Tucker pressed the governor, asking if any corporate interests had reached out to Hutchinson’s office in regards to the bill:
According to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, there is no sufficient evidence to prove that youth gender dysphoria commonly continues into adulthood. Their study shows only 6 to 23 percent of boys and 12 to 27 percent of girls treated in gender clinics showed persistence of their mental illness into adulthood.
