A federal judge has blocked an Arkansas law from taking effect that would have criminalized providing transition-related care to youth, including hormones and gender reassignment surgery.

U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr., an Obama appointee, enjoined the law from taking effect on Wednesday after hearing oral arguments in a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. The law was set to go into effect July 28.

Holly Dickson, executive director of the ACLU of Arkansas, said in a statement the decision “sends a clear message to states across the country that gender-affirming care is life-saving care, and we won’t let politicians in Arkansas — or anywhere else — take it away.”

“Today’s victory is a testament to the trans youth of Arkansas and their allies, who never gave up the fight to protect access to gender-affirming care and who will continue to defend the right of all trans people to be their authentic selves, free from discrimination,” Dickson said. “We won’t rest until this cruel and unconstitutional law is struck down for good.”

The Arkansas law would have banned doctors from providing gender reassignment surgery, hormones or puberty blockers to any person under age 18. Doctors who provide the treatment in violation of the ban could be sued for damages or professionally sanctioned. The measure contained no grandfather clause for minors who were already undergoing treatment.

The law is but one of several measures enacted against transgender youth amid a wave of bills advanced by state legislatures this year, many of which are geared toward school sports or health care.

It’s also the second law to be enjoined from taking effect. Another court has blocked a Tennessee law from going into effect that would have required public accommodations to post signs if they allow transgender people to use the restroom consistent with their gender identity.

The Arkansas Legislature enacted the law, known as House Bill 1570, in March by overriding the veto of Gov. Asa Hutchinson. (Hutchison, however, had already signed into law this year two measures seen as anti-transgender, one barring transgender youth from sports, another allowing medical providers to opt out of offering procedures over religious objections.) The Arkansas law was set to go into effect on July 28.

Sam Brinton, vice president of advocacy and government affairs for The Trevor Project, said in a statement the ruling was “a huge victory for transgender and nonbinary youth in Arkansas.”

“Thank you to our friends at the ACLU and to all the brave families and doctors involved in this case,” Brinton said. “Gender-affirming medical care is associated with positive mental health outcomes and reduced suicide risk. All trans youth deserve access to this best-practice care regardless of where they live.”

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in May against the law on behalf of four transgender youth and their families as well as two doctors, contending it violates equal protection and due process under the Fourteenth Amendment and the freedom of speech under the First Amendment.

Arkansas Attorney General Lisa Rutledge pledged in a statement in the aftermath of the ruling to appeal the decision, making dubious claims the law was “evidence-based.”

“This evidence-based law was created because we cannot allow children as young as 9 years old to receive experimental procedures that have irreversible, physical consequences,” Rutledge said. “I will aggressively defend Arkansas’ law, which strongly limits permanent, life-altering sex changes to adolescents. I will not sit idly by while radical groups such as the ACLU use our children as pawns for their own social agenda. As the Attorney General of Arkansas, I will be appealing today’s decision.”

The Biden administration has also weighed in on this litigation, filing last month a Statement of Interest before the court assessing the Arkansas law violates equal protection and due process under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Tony Perkins, president of the anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council, said in a statement his organization is “disappointed but not surprised” by the judge’s ruling.

“The legal challenge to this law is being mounted by a political movement that advocates for using off-label drugs and experimental procedures on minors,” Perkins said. “Yet a growing number of individuals are coming forward to share their stories of being permanently disfigured and/or sterilized from procedures such as puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones and irreversible surgeries. The truth about the dangers of these life altering procedures cannot be ignored.”