COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri court on Monday upheld a fresh state law banning certain gender-specific health care services for minors, a victory for the ban’s supporters as numerous lawsuits challenging similar bans in other states continue to expire.
Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey said in a statement that Missouri was “the first state in the country to successfully defend such a law in court.” Bailey, who tried to ban minors from accessing gender-inclusive health care through a rule change but abandoned that effort after the law was passed, is responsible for defending the law in court.
“I am extremely proud of the thousands of hours my office has dedicated to shedding light on the lack of evidence supporting these irreversible procedures,” Bailey said. “We will never stop fighting to ensure Missouri is the safest state in the nation for children.”
Every major medical organization, including the American Medical Association, has opposed the ban on gender-affirming care for minors and has supported medical care for adolescents when administered appropriately.
Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Missouri, representing plaintiffs who sued to overturn the law, said Monday they will appeal the ruling.
Missouri is among at least 26 states that have passed laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors.
Federal judges have ruled the bans in Arkansas and Florida unconstitutional, although a federal appeals court overturned the Florida ruling. A court order temporarily prevents enforcement of the ban in Montana. New Hampshire’s restrictions are scheduled to take effect in January 2025.
Starting in August 2023, Missouri law bans gender-affirming surgeries for children and teens under 18, as well as hormones and puberty blockers for minors who have not yet begun these treatments. The law expires in August 2027.
These treatments are accepted by major medical groups as evidence-based care that transgender people should have access to.
Most adults are still allowed access to gender-affirming health care under Missouri law, but Medicaid does not cover it.
The plaintiffs, including family members of several teenagers who are transgender, argued that the law deprives transgender minors of medically necessary treatments but still allows other children access to similar surgeries and medications.
Wright County Circuit Court Judge Craig Carter disagreed. In his ruling, the southern Missouri judge wrote that he believed there was “an almost total lack of consensus about the medical ethics of treating gender dysphoria in adolescents.”
“The evidence at trial revealed significant disagreement about whether medical and surgical treatment of gender dysphoria in adolescents was even ethical and, if so, what level of treatment was ethical,” Carter wrote.
Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Missouri said in a statement that the ruling signals that “for some, compassion and equal access to health care remain out of reach.”
“The Court’s findings signal a troubling acceptance of discrimination, ignore an extensive trial record and the voices of transgender Missourians and those who care for them, and deny transgender youth and Medicaid recipients their right to access evidence-based, effective and frequent treatment “life-saving medical care,” the organizations said.
States that have enacted laws restricting or prohibiting gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors include: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
