Missouri has been sued over its law that bans sex change procedures from being performed on children, making it the latest Republican-led state to face a challenge over a law shielding children from transgender procedures.
The lawsuit, which was filed by left-wing legal groups, the ACLU of Missouri and Lambda Legal in addition to the Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP law firm, claims that Missouri’s law is discriminatory. The law prohibits procedures like double mastectomies on girls who identify as boys and giving children cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers.
“Governor Parson signed Senate Bill 49 to protect Missouri children and supports efforts by Attorney General Bailey to defend the legislation,” a spokesperson for Governor Mike Parson (R-MO) said.
In June, Parson signed the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act, which banned the transgender procedures on minors and prohibited the state’s Medicaid program from covering transgender treatments for adults.
At the time, Parson said the law would “protect Missouri children from harmful, irreversible treatments and procedures. These decisions have permanent consequences for life and should not be made by impressionable children who may be in crisis or influenced by the political persuasions of others.”
The lawsuit involves several parents who claim their children identify as transgender, the LGBT group PFLAG National, and the GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality.
“On its face, the law enshrines discriminatory practices in our health care system by specifically denying transgender Missourians under the age of eighteen access to evidence-based gender-affirming medical care while stripping parents of their fundamental right to make medical decisions for their children,” Deputy Director of Litigation for the ACLU of Missouri Gillian Wilcox said in a statement.
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Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has indicated he will defend the law, saying that it is necessary to protect children.
“There are zero FDA approvals of puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to treat gender dysphoria in children. We’re not going to let left-wing ideologues experiment on children here in the state of Missouri,” Bailey said.
As over 20 states have passed laws shielding children from transgender procedures, Left-wing groups have challenged them on constitutional grounds, claiming that they violate the 14th Amendment.
While laws in states like Arkansas and Alabama have been put on hold, some have survived court challenges. In Tennessee, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled against a preliminary injunction from a federal judge blocking full implementation the Volunteer State’s law.
Missouri’s law is set to go into effect on August 28.