Judge makes ruling on challenge to gender-affirming care ban for minors

JEFFERSON CITY (First Alert 4) -- A Missouri judge ruled Monday that the state can continue to enforce its ban on gender-affirming care for minors in the state.

Judge Robert C. Carter wrote in his ruling on a lawsuit that challenged the law that the Missouri Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act is constitutional. The lawsuit was filed in July 2023 by a coalition of transgender teens, family and healthcare providers.

The lawsuit claimed an absence of any fact-based reason for the state to restrict transgender medical procedures for minors, such as transition surgeries and prescriptions for puberty blockers and hormones. It sought to stop the state attorney general from enforcing the ban.

The law banning gender-affirming care for minors went into effect in August 2023.

Carter wrote in his ruling that the court found “an almost total lack of consensus as to the medical ethics of adolescent gender dysphoria treatment.” Evidence at trial, he wrote, showed “severe disagreement” as to whether drugs or surgical treatment for minors with gender dysphoria was ethical at all.

Both sides presented experts to testify at trial. The court ruled in favor of the state on all counts.

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