MISSOURI – Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey issued an emergency regulation on transition-related care for transgender youth on March 20th. Citing the false claim that such health care is “experimental,” the regulation adds unnecessary and unreasonable requirements that must be met for young people to access essential health care.
Attorney General Andrew Bailey has egregiously overstepped in labeling transition-related care for transgender youth as “experimental.” This false claim is commonly used as the primary justification for outlawing such care. Violations of health care-related privacy information, which have perpetuated misinformation about transition-related care, have already negatively harmed families and communities in Missouri. This is a clear political overreach to vilify transgender people, waste resources, and attack our community.
“This is an irresponsible use of political power that only serves to further disenfranchise a community that has been under attack by extremist politicians around the country,” said Dr. Devon Ojeda, senior national organizer for the National Center for Transgender Equality. “Transition-related care is safe and essential, and these unnecessary requirements would only inundate an already overwhelmed healthcare system.”
Expert health care providers have been studying and providing transition-related health care for more than four decades. Puberty-blocking medications and hormone therapy for transgender youth and adults have been prescribed and studied by experts for over 40 years. When needed, cisgender (meaning non-transgender) children also safely receive these medications for other health conditions. Moreover, young people seeking transition-related medical care already receive significant counseling and a psychological assessment. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which sets global best practices for transition care, recommends “extensive exploration of psychological, family, and social issues” prior to any physical interventions for young people. Decades of clinical research and experience show that transgender people who have access to the care they need see a positive impact on their mental and physical health.
Transition-related care is lifesaving care. Gender dysphoria is a medical diagnosis of the intense distress a transgender person faces when they are not able to live as the gender they know themselves to be. A large body of research demonstrates that transgender youth who receive transition-related health care to treat their gender dysphoria show decreased anxiety, depression, suicidal behavior, and psychological distress, and increased quality of life. There is an extremely strong scientific and medical consensus that transgender people exist, and that transition-related care is clinically appropriate and medically necessary. In fact, at least 29 medical and expert organizations agree that transition-related care is medically necessary.
Any decisions surrounding transgender young people and their health care should be left between families and their medical providers. The moral panic about children obtaining transition-related health disregards the numerous obstacles that transgender people experience when accessing gender affirming care, including socioeconomic barriers such as insurance access and out-pocket costs, barriers related to obtaining medical care, and, for minors, the need for parental permission.
“The myth that transgender identity is a ‘social contagion,’ as purported in Bailey’s statement has, has been historically used against the LGBTQ community for decades. We know that in reality, transgender people have always existed, and transgender youth know who they are.”
