Gender transitions for children in Missouri will be limited following an emergency regulation issued by Attorney General Andrew Bailey. He cited the lack of evidence that so-called “gender-affirming care” procedures such as gender-transition surgery and hormone treatments are safe and effective.
The move comes as more states ban castration on biological boys and elective double mastectomies for biological girls. The corruption in the transition industry was recently highlighted by a whistle-blower who let a St. Louis transition clinic. Bailey launched an investigation into the Pediatric Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital for prescribing puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones for children without parental consent.
Many are now calling the procedures and “care” abuse as adults who formerly transitioned share often horrific consequences of the irreversible treatments.
READ: Man who transitioned says “you end up destroying yourself”
The new rules will require that minors seeking gender transition sign specific informed-consent disclosures; that they be assessed for any mental illness during an 18-month waiting period; and that any adverse effects of the gender transition be tracked for a period no fewer than 15 years. Bailey’s order is based on the notion that gender transitions are experimental and therefore are covered by “existing Missouri law governing unfair, deceptive and unconscionable business practices, including in administering health-care services,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement.
“As attorney general, I will protect children and enforce the laws as written, which includes upholding state law on experimental gender transition interventions,” Bailey said. “Even Europe recognizes that mutilating children for the sake of a woke, leftist agenda has irreversible consequences, and countries like Sweden, Norway and the United Kingdom have all sharply curtailed these procedures. I am dedicated to using every legal tool at my disposal to stand in the gap and protect children from being subject to inhumane science experiments.”
Under the new rules, gender transitions will be allowed only after the patient has received a full psychological assessment, consisting of no fewer than 15 separate, hourly sessions over the course of 18 months. All mental health comorbidities must be treated before proceeding.
Possible adverse effects must be tracked for at least 15 years following the gender transition. The patient must also submit to some form of annual examination to ensure that, in the phrasing of the attorney general, “the patient is not experiencing social contagion with respect to the patient’s gender identity.”
LGBT organizations have criticized the rules and they are likely to be challenged in court. In a statement to the “St. Louis Post-Dispatch,” PROMO, a Missouri LGBT organization, disagreed with the attorney general’s assessment that gender transition treatment is experimental.
The Missouri Legislature will continue to debate gender transitions for minors and may act of its own accord. The issue of transgender athletes also is under debate.
“At the end of the day, when a kid comes in with gender dysphoria, [that] is a mental health problem,” Bailey told the Washington Examiner. “We need to be treating it like other mental health problems with psychiatry and psychology, not racing to puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and ultimately irreversible surgeries that are dangerous.”
“I also believe that gender is an objective reality defined by biology and it is unhealthy to deny objective reality in the same way that it’s unhealthy to deny the objective reality of the law of gravity,” he continued. “And so we’ve got to reset the conversation on this. This emergency rule is the attorney general’s office standing in the gap right now to provide safety to children, and a more long-term solution needs to come from the General Assembly.”
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
