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Missouri attorney general to put guardrails on ‘gender-affirming care’, with or without the legislature

by Jacob Fuller

Trey Paul, FISM News 

With the Missouri legislature struggling to pass a bill that would effectively ban the practice of mutilating children in the name of “gender-affirming care,” Missouri’s Republican attorney general said he is bypassing lawmakers and will limit access to the procedures for minors by himself.

Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced Monday that he’s filing an emergency rule that restricts minors from seeking surgical or medical interventions that attempt to alter their biological sex without significant psychological evaluation.

“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,” Bailey said. He explained his position further on social media.

“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. As Attorney General, I will protect children and enforce the laws as written, which includes upholding state law on experimental gender transition interventions,” Bailey tweeted.

According to Bailey’s rule, children will be required to undergo a “full psychological or psychiatric assessment” consisting of “no fewer than 15 hourly sessions” over a period of 18 months before a Missouri doctor can provide any sort of experimental surgical or medical care.

“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,” said Bailey.

The emergency regulation also requires specific informed-consent disclosures that inform all patients that the use of puberty blocker drugs or cross-sex hormones to treat gender identity disorder or gender dysphoria is experimental and not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It’s noted in a news release from Bailey’s office that the FDA has issued a warning that puberty blockers can lead to brain swelling and blindness.

Hundreds gathered at the Capitol in Missouri in hopes of urging lawmakers to pass a law known as the “Missouri Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act” or the SAFE Act, that would ban this type of treatment for children. Several gay and transgender activists who feel that only adults should have access to gender-affirming care also showed up in support of the bill.

Catherine Dreher, who chairs the Missouri Libertarian Party, was one of the hundreds who showed up for the “Save Our Kids Rally.”

Dreher says her 18-year-old son is dealing with mental health issues and recently left home in hopes of becoming a woman, something that causes her distress. She feels that allowing gender-altering surgeries or the medical transitioning of kids is child abuse and has been very outspoken about it on social media, questioning why the SAFE Act is even up for debate.

Dr. Bob Onder, a Republican and former Missouri state senator, is strongly against what he calls “chemically castrating kids before they can work out their sexuality during puberty.” He recently tweeted: “No such thing as ‘gender-affirming’ care. A girl who is chemically castrated, given hormones, and mutilated is a victim of abuse and quacked. And she’s still a girl.”

Senate Democrats filibustered the bill for more than 12 hours on Monday, a stall tactic, before advancing it Tuesday morning.

“Protecting Missouri’s children is not up for negotiation,” Republican Senator Mike Moon wrote in a public letter signed by seven other Republican senators who vowed to take any action necessary to bring Moon’s bill to a vote this week. Sen. Moon is also the bill’s sponsor.

The bill will have to go through another vote in the Senate before moving on to the House.

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