Rulings in Texas, Missouri jumble again where US transgender youth can receive treatment
Associated Press— A judge on Friday ruled against Texas’ ban on gender-affirming health care for minors while a separate judge in Missouri let a similar ban take effect, jumbling again where in the U.S. transgender youth can receive treatment. In a statement, the Texas attorney general’s office said it would “continue to enforce the laws duly enacted by the Texas Legislature and uphold the values of the people of Texas.” In Missouri, the ruling by St. Louis Circuit Judge Steven Ohmer means that beginning on Monday, health care providers are prohibited from providing gender-affirming surgeries to children. Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office wrote in a court brief that blocking the law “would open the gate to interventions that a growing international consensus has said may be extraordinarily damaging.” The office cited restrictions on gender-affirming treatments for minors in countries including England and Norway, although those nations have not enacted outright bans. “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.” Every major medical organization in the U.S., including the American Medical Association, has opposed bans on gender-affirming care for minors and supported the medical care for youth when administered appropriately.