JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri (LifeSiteNews) — The attorney general of Missouri issued new guidance on interventions for gender-confused individuals, including the country’s first restrictions on so-called “gender transitions” for adults.
In an emergency rule issued on Friday, Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced restrictions to be placed on hormonal and surgical intervention for both children and adults experiencing gender confusion. The rule highlights such procedures as violations of the state’s Merchandising Practices Act.
“Individuals of any age experiencing gender dysphoria or related conditions should be able to and are able to obtain care in Missouri,” the document states. “Often this care takes the form of psychotherapy, also known as talk therapy, rather than any chemical or surgical intervention.”
“This emergency rule is necessary to protect the public health, safety, and welfare, and also to protect a compelling governmental interest as the attorney general is charged with protecting consumers, including minors, from harm and investigating fraud and abuse in the state’s health care payment system. Among other reasons, the recent immense increase in the use of these life-altering interventions, which have serious side effects, as well as the recent acknowledgment that these interventions are used in circumstances not supported by solid evidence, makes this issue time sensitive.”
Medical professionals and organizations are prohibited from administering drugs and surgery in the name of “gender affirmation” if they have not annually “assess[ed] whether the patient continues to have gender dysphoria” and “ensure[d] that, for at least the 3 most recent consecutive years, the patient has exhibited a medically documented, long-lasting, persistent and intense pattern of gender dysphoria.”
Other requirements prior to administering any so-called “gender affirming care” include “a full psychological or psychiatric assessment” with an emphasis on determining if a patient “has any mental health comorbidities” and taking necessary steps to ensure that the mental health issues have been resolved before resorting to hormonal and surgical intervention. Similar rules apply to diagnose and treat autism. Minors must also receive “comprehensive screening (at least annually) for social media addiction or compulsion” to determine whether his or her gender confusion is brought on by social contagion.
Additionally, medical professionals and centers must “assess (at least annually) whether the patient continues to have gender dysphoria” and present written and oral information to patients, including parents or guardians in the case of minors, with detailed information about the drugs and surgeries. Such information includes facts that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones are “experimental” and “not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).” The document lists numerous research and official guidance from various countries which emphasize the limited data on long-term effects of such “treatments” and the negative impact which has been observed through available evidence.
Should medical professionals follow all the guidelines and patients are still intent on medical intervention, they are required to maintain records of “all adverse effects” which occur from the start of the patient’s “gender transition” through at least 15 years. Written informed consent must also be procured (from parents or guardians in the case of a minor) and renewed at least quarterly for the first three years of medical intervention and at least twice a year after.
“Any person or health organization providing a covered gender transition [sic] intervention to a patient (or referring a patient for such an intervention) shall document and retain in such patient’s records a detailed description of compliance with the provisions” outlined in the rule.
The order declares that failing to comply with the detailed regulations is “an unfair, deceptive, fraudulent, or otherwise unlawful practice,” but does not outline specific punishment for violators. Exceptions to the rule include necessary “treatment for a genetically or biochemically verifiable disorder of sex development.” Effective on April 27, the order is set to last roughly one year, expiring on February 6, 2024.
The detailed restrictions come a few weeks after Attorney General Bailey announced he would issue guidance on the procedures, sparked by a former employee at a pediatric gender clinic revealing shocking details of the “gender transition” process to the public.
Jamie Reed worked as a case manager at The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital until November, when she resigned in protest of what took place within the organization. Between 2020 and 2022, the center was responsible for over 600 “gender transitions” among Missouri’s minors, roughly 74% of whom were girls.
As previously reported by LifeSiteNews, Reed noted the significant role of social contagion in leading kids to pursue medical interventions for gender confusion. She discussed the numerous mental health issues which often accompanied the confusion, including bipolar disorder, PTSD, and schizophrenia. Many of the children who came into the clinic already suffering from serious mental and emotional ailments were presented with mutilation “as the solution” to their problems.
Contrary to popular media narratives, hormonal and surgical intervention for gender confusion has been shown to cause serious long-term mental and physical health problems, including increased suicidality and cardiac issues such as heart attacks and strokes.
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