Missouri AG Announces Guardrails for Minors Pursuing Gender Transition
Missouri attorney general Andrew Bailey has announced that he is issuing an emergency regulation to limit gender transitions for minors in his state, citing the lack of evidence that procedures such as gender-transition surgery and hormone therapy are safe and effective.
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 are therefore covered by “existing Missouri law governing unfair, deceptive, and unconscionable business practices, including in administering healthcare 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,” said Bailey.
“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,” he added.
Bailey’s move appeared to sidestep the Missouri Legislature, which has debated, but not passed, legislation to restrict gender transitions for minors, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Patients will have to sign paperwork that informs them that puberty blockers are experimental and can lead to brain swelling and blindness, according to the FDA. The paperwork will also cite research from Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare that the benefits of puberty blockers are outweighed by the risks.
Patients will be informed of a study that holds that an individual whose friend identifies as transgender is “more than 70 times” as likely to similarly identify as transgender, suggesting that people believe themselves to be transgender because of social factors. Finally, the Endocrine Society will be cited in the disclosures as holding that “the large majority (about 85%) of prepubertal children with a childhood diagnosis did not remain GD/gender incongruent in adolescence.”
Under the new rules, gender transitions will only be allowed once 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 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 their own accord. The issue of transgender athletes is also under debate.
