Missouri AG restricts gender-affirming care for all ages
Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey issued an “emergency rule” Thursday that severely restricts access to guideline-directed gender-affirming healthcare for minors as well as adults in the state.
The rule was made under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act and is slated to take effect on April 27 after paperwork is filed with the Missouri Secretary of State’s office.
The state’s American Civil Liberties Union chapter and Lambda Legal promised to take “any necessary legal action” in a joint statement released hours after the rule was made public. “The attorney general’s so-called emergency rule is based on distorted, misleading and debunked claims and ignores the overwhelming body of scientific and medical evidence supporting this care as well as the medical experts and doctors who work with transgender people every day,” the groups wrote.
Bailey’s restrictions go further than most anti-transgender policies that have been implemented in other conservative states, for example by requiring patients of all ages to complete 15 hourly sessions with a mental health professional over the course of 18-months and have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria for three “most recent, consecutive years” before treatment with puberty blockers, hormones or gender-transition surgery.
