Missouri judge blocks anti-trans care law hours before it takes effect
The courts are still on our side. For now.
Reposted from the Kansas City Star
A Missouri judge on Monday blocked Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s sweeping restrictions on transgender care just hours before they were set to take effect.
The temporary restraining order, issued by St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Ellen H. Ribaudo, allows Missourians to continue accessing gender-affirming care until at least May 15. The judge will hear arguments on May 11 as she weighs whether to allow the rules to take effect later this month.
Ribaudo, appointed by former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon in 2015, wrote in an order that the plaintiffs in the case, which include two teenage transgender girls, were “at high risk of having their medical care interrupted for an unknown length of time” if Bailey’s rule were to take effect.
Ribaudo also wrote that plaintiff Southampton Community Healthcare, which provides gender-affirming care in St. Louis, would run the risk of ethics violations under Bailey’s rule for providing medical advice using “unsourced medical information without knowing or being able to find out if that science is medically supported.”
The regulations, which were set to take effect at 5 p.m., would make Missouri the first state to severely restrict transgender care for adults, in addition to children, banning doctors from providing gender-affirming care unless a patient has shown three consecutive years of gender dysphoria and requiring 15 separate hourly therapy sessions over 18 months before a person can start transgender care.
The rule has stoked fear and confusion in the state’s transgender community and divided Republicans, with Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and others questioning whether it will hold up in court.
Ribaudo made the ruling Monday after hearing arguments in a lawsuit against the restrictions last week. She had agreed to hold off on making a ruling in the case until Monday. Monday’s order states that a hearing for a preliminary injunction in the case is scheduled for 1 p.m. on May 11.
The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and LGBTQ civil rights group Lambda Legal, alleged that Bailey’s rule violates state law and the Missouri Constitution. The two groups celebrated the judge’s ruling on Monday, “Today’s ruling marks a win for transgender Missourians over an unprecedented attempt by the Attorney General to unilaterally legislate and harm their right to self-expression, bodily autonomy, and access to lifesaving health care,” Gillian Wilcox, the ACLU of Missouri’s deputy director of litigation, said in a statement.
Nora Huppert, a staff attorney at Lambda Legal, in a statement said the ruling struck a blow against Bailey’s attempt to restrict gender-affirming care for people of all ages. “We will continue to fight for our clients and for all transgender people in Missouri until this dangerous and unprecedented policy is set fully aside, and we will not be deterred by any attempt to shield this policy from the scrutiny of Missouri’s courts,” the statement said.
Madeline Sieren, a spokesperson for Bailey’s office, said in a statement that the office was still optimistic, pointing to a line in Ribaudo’s order that said the court could not accomplish Bailey’s office’s request to “take a deeper look at the science behind the decision to issue this Emergency Rule.” “We remain confident in our position because the Court even acknowledged that it deferred its consideration of the science until a later date,” the statement said. “Our six pages of endnotes speak for themselves: these procedures are experimental. We will continue to fight for all patients to have access to adequate health care.”
State Rep. Doug Richey, an Excelsior Springs Republican, said Monday that he stood behind Bailey’s effort to restrict gender-affirming care. Richey said he hadn’t read the order, but questioned the ruling. “I’m probably not surprised that a judge in St. Louis has taken this step. Unfortunately, on matters like this, individuals will try to find a particular circuit that will rule favorably regarding their interests,” he said. “At the end of the day, I do believe the AG’s effort should prevail.”
Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which operates four health centers in Missouri, including three in the Kansas City area, said in a statement that it would continue providing gender-affirming care. The organization also has two centers on the Kansas side of the border. “This is another moment of relief for trans and non-binary Missourians who have had to worry that care they need and deserve would be unavailable because one appointed politician is determined to take away their rights,” Emily Wales, the organization’s president and CEO, said in a statement.
In court filings and in last week’s hearing, the ACLU described how Bailey’s rule was not based on proper medical expertise. The organization also detailed how the regulations would severely restrict Missourians from receiving necessary health care. Bailey’s office had countered that the restrictions were necessary, painting gender-affirming care as experimental.
The Republican’s legal team last week touted talk therapy as a replacement to gender-affirming care. Transgender Missourians who spoke with The Star had feared that Bailey’s rule was merely a stopgap to give the GOP-controlled General Assembly more time to pass legislation aimed at restricting gender-affirming care.
While Monday’s order temporarily blocks Bailey’s regulations, Republican state lawmakers are considering legislation that would ban doctors from providing gender-affirming care to anyone under 18. With two weeks left in session, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson last week threatened to call lawmakers into a special session if they did not pass the anti-transgender legislation this year.
Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article274915096.html#storylink=cpy
The ACLU is doing great work standing up for trans rights in court. Donate to the ACLU here: https://www.aclu.org/action/
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