Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey on Tuesday issued an emergency regulation on gender transition treatments to protect children from what he calls “inhumane science experiments.”
Gender transition interventions are covered by existing Missouri law governing unfair, deceptive, and unconscionable business practices, including in administering health care services, according to the Missouri Attorney General’s Office.
Bailey’s office referred to rising concerns in the medical community that transgender treatments for minors are experimental.
“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 a formal statement, adding:
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.
The new Missouri regulation will require specific informed-consent disclosures informing patients that the use of puberty-blocking drugs or cross-sex hormones to treat gender identity disorder or gender dysphoria is experimental and not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA issued a warning last summer that puberty blockers can lead to brain swelling and blindness.
Bailey’s emergency regulation will last 30 legislative days or 180 days, whichever is longer.
The regulation prohibits gender transition interventions when the provider fails to ensure that the patient has received a full psychological or psychiatric assessment, consisting of at least 15 separate, hourly sessions over the course of at least 18 months, according to the attorney general’s office.
The Missouri regulation also is suposed to ensure that any existing mental health comorbidities for a patient have been treated and resolved.
The Sweden National Board of Health and Welfare determined in January that for minors, “the risks of puberty-suppressing treatment with GnRH-analogues and gender-affirming hormonal treatment currently outweigh the possible benefits.”
The attorney general’s office also noted that the Endocrine Society found “the large majority (about 85%) of prepubertal children with a childhood diagnosis did not remain GD [gender dysphoric]/gender incongruent in adolescence.”
The regulation will track all adverse effects that “arise from any course of covered gender transition intervention for all patients beginning the first day of intervention and continuing for a period of not fewer than 15 years,” according to Bailey’s press release.
His office said the emergency regulation will ensure that a patient has received a comprehensive screening to determine whether he or she has autism and ensure at least annually that the patient is not experiencing “social contagion” regarding gender identity and ideology.
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