A judge in Missouri ruled on Aug. 25 to allow a ban on transgender surgeries and other treatments for minors to take effect in that state, restricting where transgender-identifying youth in America can go to receive treatment.
The ruling by St. Louis Circuit Judge Steven Ohmer prohibits health care providers from performing transgender surgeries on minors starting on Sept. 4.
Minors who began taking puberty blockers or hormones prior to Aug. 28 will be permitted to continue taking them, but any other children looking to start the treatments won’t have access to them.
Some adults also will lose access to care that supports their gender identity because of a change taking place to bar Medicaid from funding adult treatments.
The state won’t provide these procedures to inmates.
Violating physicians risk having their licenses revoked and being prosecuted by patients. Former patients have 15 years to file a lawsuit, and if successful, they'll receive at least $500,000 in compensation.
The law is set to expire in August 2027.
“The science and medical evidence is conflicting and unclear. Accordingly, the evidence raises more questions than answers,” he wrote.
“As a result, it has not clearly been shown with sufficient possibility of success on the merits to justify the grant of a preliminary injunction.”
Proponents of the law argued that “gender-affirming” medical treatments are unsafe and untested.
Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office said in a statement about their victory in blocking the law that they were successful in efforts to defend the law passed by the state that would ban the “mutilation” of children.
“I’ve said from day one as attorney general that I will fight to ensure that Missouri is the safest state in the nation for children.”
More than 20 states have enacted legislation prohibiting transgender surgeries and other treatments for minors, although some of these laws haven’t yet taken effect or have been stayed by the courts.
Many of them restrict transgender minors’ access to hormone therapies, puberty blockers, and transition surgeries.
Judge Cantú Hexsel, a Democrat, ruled that the state’s ban would discriminate against transgender children and contravene physicians’ ability to follow “well-established, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, and their training and oaths.”
The judge went on to say that allowing the law to take effect could “significantly and severely compromise the health of their patients with gender dysphoria or, alternatively, to risk their livelihoods.”
The state filed an appeal with the Texas Supreme Court almost immediately, placing the lower court’s decision on pause for the time being.
The Attorney General’s Office stated that it would “continue to enforce the laws duly enacted by the Texas Legislature and uphold the values of the people of Texas.”
