A Missouri judge on Monday temporarily blocked the state’s restrictions on gender-affirming care for transgender youth and adults from taking effect for two weeks.
According to CNN, St. Louis County Circuit Judge Ellen Ribaudo’s order means that some of the country’s most sweeping restrictions on transgender care will be paused as she mulls extending the stay for a longer period of time to let a legal challenge unfold.
While most gender-affirming care legislation has focused on transgender minors, the emergency rule from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is unique in that it is among the first state actions to target such care for adults.
Bailey’s emergency rule was set to go into effect last week, but Ribaudo previously temporarily blocked enforcement to allow herself more time to consider the matter before issuing a temporary stay on Monday, CNN reports.
Calling gender-affirming care “experimental interventions,” the attorney general’s order states that a transgender patient must exhibit a “medically-documented … intense pattern of gender dysphoria” for a minimum of three years before seeking a gender-transition intervention. The health care provider must have conducted a “full psychological or psychiatric assessment” on the patient consisting of at least 15 sessions over 18 months and ensure that they have been screened for autism. Additionally, if the patient is a minor, the provider must determine if they have a “social media addiction or compulsion.”
“This emergency rule is necessary to protect the public health, safety, and welfare, and also to protect a compelling governmental interest as the attorney general is charged with protecting consumers, including minors, from harm and investigating fraud and abuse in the state’s health care payment system,” the order reads. “Among other reasons, the recent immense increase in the use of these life-altering interventions, which have serious side effects, as well as the recent acknowledgment that these interventions are used in circumstances not supported by solid evidence, makes this issue time sensitive.”
Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri challenged Bailey’s emergency rule, arguing that the state attorney general does not have the authority to impose restrictions on gender-affirming care.
“The Attorney General’s dangerous and unlawful twisting of Missouri’s consumer protection laws corrupt our health care system by inserting the government into the medical decisions of people and their doctors in order to play politics at the expense of life-saving medical care,” Gillian Wilcox, ACLU of Missouri deputy director for litigation, said in a statement. “This usurping of power will not only inflict harm on transgender adolescents, but its application will immediately jeopardize the health care of transgender adults throughout the state. This chicanery is the Attorney General’s attempt to legislate and harm transgender Missourians while ignoring evidence-based medical treatment for his own political gain. Every person has the right to express themselves, control their bodies, and seek the health care they need while doing so free of prejudice, discrimination, and violence.”
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