Missouri AG calls gender transition healthcare ‘experimental,’ implementing new regulations
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Missouri Senate is once again filibustering on transgender issues as the attorney general issues related emergency regulations.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said in a news release and on his social media accounts Monday that his office is creating emergency regulations for gender-affirming care such as the use of puberty blockers.
At the same time, the Missouri Senate is discussing the possibility of combining a bill that would ban minors from receiving gender-affirming care with a bill that bans transgender girls from playing girls sports in K-12 public schools.
Bailey said that because gender transition treatments are “experimental, they are covered by existing Missouri law governing unfair, deceptive, and unconscionable business practices, including in administering healthcare services. The regulation is necessary due to the skyrocketing number of gender transition interventions, despite rising concerns in the medical community that these procedures are experimental and lack clinical evidence of safety or success.”
Bailey did not provide evidence about the increasing number of procedures.
The emergency regulation will last “30 legislative days or 180 days, whichever is longer,” according to the statement.
In an effort to protect children and enforce the laws as written, I am issuing an emergency regulation clarifying that, because gender transition interventions are experimental, Missouri law already prohibits performing them in the absence of specific guardrails.
— Attorney General Andrew Bailey (@AGAndrewBailey) March 20, 2023
The press release states, “Because gender transition interventions are experimental, the regulation clarifies that state law already prohibits performing experimental procedures in the absence of specific guardrails.”
“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 in the release. “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.”
Openly gay State Rep. Ian Mackey said Bailey's emergency regulations are just campaigning.
"This is a culture war distraction, right, this is a ballot issue," Mackey said.
This regulation comes as a rally in favor of anti-transgender legislation – called the Missouri Kids FIRST Rally – took place at the Capitol. Former state Sen. Bob Onder spoke at the rally, which lasted well over an hour.
"The abuse of medical science in the name of ideology, of politics and of profit has been appalling," Onder said.
PROMO, an LGBTQ+ public policy and advocacy organization, said in a news release Sunday that Christian white nationalist groups were expected to be in attendance, among other groups.
Bills proposed this year in the Missouri legislature include measures to block gender transition care for minors and to force athletes to compete based on their sex at birth.
“(PROMO) sees this as a hateful and spiteful attack on transgender youth and a clear example of a nationally organized hate campaign from groups like Concerned Women for America of Missouri and Missouri Gays Against Groomers in coordination with nationals like the Heritage Foundation and Alliance Defending Freedom,” the group wrote in the release.
The group responded to Bailey's regulation in a press release later on Monday.
“The Missouri Attorney General does not have the right to politicize healthcare nor use transgender bodies as political pawns," PROMO said in the release. "It is clear his office does not respect the professional guidelines of every major medical association in our country, who agrees gender-affirming healthcare is the standard of care for transgender Missourians, and instead is abusing his political power by asserting his beliefs by stating access to lifesaving healthcare is part of a ‘woke, leftist agenda.’"
The Missouri House Democratic Caucus voiced its displeasure on social media following the announcement.
"The attorney general has decided he knows better than health care experts across the country who follow strict standards of care for trans youth, and he's dictated arbitrary rules that ignore best practices," the Caucus wrote on Twitter. "This campaign fodder will hurt Missouri kids."
Missouri Democrats recently filibustered bills targeting transgender youth. The bill – also known as the SAFE Act – and several other bills were met with strong opposition in committee hearings.
The attorney general has decided he knows better than health care experts across the country who follow strict standards of care for trans youth, and he's dictated arbitrary rules that ignore best practices.
— Missouri House Democratic Caucus (@MOLegDems) March 20, 2023
This campaign fodder will hurt Missouri kids. #moleg https://t.co/z8uUS9jFC5
