COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A judge on Friday blocked Texas’ ban on gender-affirming health care for minors while a separate judge in Missouri allowed a similar ban to take effect, underscoring the mixed verdict in courtrooms across the U.S. this year over a historic wave of restrictions aimed at transgender youth.
A judge on Friday blocked Texas’ ban on gender-affirming health care for minors while a separate judge in Missouri allowed a similar ban to take effect, underscoring the mixed verdict in courtrooms across the U.S. this year over a historic wave of restrictions aimed at transgender youth.
More than 20 states have adopted laws to ban some gender-affirming care for minors, although some are not yet in effect or have been put on hold by courts. Many of them prevent transgender minors from accessing hormone therapies, puberty blockers and transition surgeries, even though medical experts say such surgical procedures are rarely performed on children.
Texas would be the most populous state to enforce such a ban. But state District Judge Maria Cantu Hexsel sided with a group of families who argued it would violate parents’ rights and have devastating consequences for transgender children and teenagers who would be denied treatment recommended by their physicians.
The Missouri 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. Minors who began puberty blockers or hormones before Monday will be allowed to continue on those medications, but other minors won’t have access to those drugs.
Some adults will also lose access to gender-affirming care. Medicaid no longer will cover treatments for adults, and the state will not provide those surgeries to prisoners.
