Missouri Senate passes bill limiting gender-affirming treatments for minors; ban includes surgeries, puberty blockers

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Senate has voted 24-8 in favor of banning puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries for minors for at least the next four years.

The Senate gave its approval to bills this week dealing with transgender issues, despite a filibuster by Democrats.

Until Aug. 28, 2027, no healthcare provider can prescribe or administer cross-sex hormones or puberty-blocking drugs to minors for gender transitions or allow them to perform gender-transition surgeries.

"I am proud of my Democratic colleagues, our minority leader, for standing up for these kids, and while we lost today, what I said on the floor is true, we will win this war," Sen. Greg Razer (D-Kansas City) said.

Razer, who is openly gay, said there is lack of understanding for those in the transgender community.

Razer said it will take time, but with acceptance, members of the Senate will come to realize they made a mistake.

"Next year it will be something different," Sen. John Rizzo (D-Kansas City) said. "It might not be a trans issue, it might not be CRT (Critical Race Theory), but it will be some issue, I promise you that kicks a minority group in the face."

This bill and access to treatment does not apply if the minor was receiving treatment prior to Aug. 28, 2023.

"The position that we came to, with the folks being grandfathered in that have started the process, is a good one," Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) said. "It does allow for and make sure we're not pulling the rug out from under these kids that have started the process."For the Senate Republicans, Rowden said this is a look into the future.

"I think that for us this was forward looking," Rowden said. "The past is the past. This has been acceptable in Missouri, but we're saying from this point on it's not going to be."

Rowden said compromise had to be made by both sides, and this remained a priority for Republicans.