Missouri Judge Upholds Ban On Gender-Affirming Medical Care For Trans Youth
A Missouri circuit court judge on Monday declined to restore access to gender-affirming care for minors in the state, ruling in a 74-page judgment that a law banning children from accessing medical care is constitutional.
The Save Adolescents From Experimentation Act, which bars medical professionals from providing hormone therapy and puberty blockers to anyone younger than 18, was signed into law by Republican Gov. Mike Parson in 2023.
It also bans gender transition surgeries for minors (which are exceedingly rare), bans prisons and jails from providing gender-affirming surgeries, and prohibits Missouri Medicaid from covering similar treatments for adults.
Judge Robert Craig Carter of the 44th Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri disputed the findings of medical experts in his ruling, citing a “total lack of consensus” on the medical ethics of treating gender dysphoria.
“The evidence from trial showed that the medical ethics of gender dysphoria treatment for children and adolescents are entirely unsettled,” he added.
Carter also suggested that treating gender dysphoria could be a slippery slope to depriving the Missouri legislature of its ability to regulate drugs.
“Any person — including a minor — would be able to obtain anything from meth, to ecstasy to abortion so long as a single medical professional were willing to recommend it,” he warned.
Lambda Legal, a national nonprofit that advocates for LGBTQ civil rights, together with the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, argued the law is discriminatory on the basis of sex and therefore violates the Missouri Constitution.
In a joint statement Monday, the organizations said they were “extremely disappointed” in the ruling and pledged to appeal.
Democracy In The Balance
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“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 adolescents and Medicaid beneficiaries from their right to access to evidence-based, effective, and often life-saving medical care,” the statement said.
“This ruling sends a chilling message that, for some, compassion and equal access to health care are still out of reach.”
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R), meanwhile, defended the law at trial and cast Carter’s ruling Monday as a victory for “banning child mutilation.”
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the constitutionality of a similar law in Tennessee next Wednesday in United States v. Skrmetti.
