COLE COUNTY, Mo. — A circuit court judge in Cole County, Missouri, on Monday upheld the state's law that bans transgender health care for minors.
Judge R. Craig Carter ruled that the lawsuit brought by transgender children and their parents did not meet any of the criteria required to block the enforcement of a 2023 law on transgender care.
During the 13-day trial earlier this year, the state argued that there was no medical consensus on the efficacy of medical transition.
In his ruling, Judge Carter sided with the state's argument. He cited a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that said legislative options "must be epically broad" when involving areas "fraught with medical and scientific uncertainties."
According to reporting from the Missouri Independent, large medical organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics, a group founded in 1930 with 67,000 member physicians, support gender-affirming care for minors. Other organizations outside the medical mainstream — like the 700-member American College of Pediatricians which was formed in 2002 — are outspoken against the treatment.
ACLU of Missouri and Lambda Legal, which tried the case on behalf of the plaintiffs, said they would appeal the ruling.
The law, signed by Republican Gov. Mike Parson in June of 2023, prohibits Missouri health care providers from providing puberty blockers, hormones and gender-affirming surgeries to minors. Minors prescribed puberty blockers or hormones before Aug. 28, 2023, would be able to continue to receive those treatments.
In addition to limiting access to treatment, the law also increased potential punishments for physicians who violate the law. Doctors could have their licenses revoked and could be sued by patients. The law makes gives patients 15 years to sure and guaranteed $500,000 in damages if they succeed in court.
The law expires in August 2027.
ACLU of Missouri and Lambda Legal provided the following statement:
Today, in a ruling largely copying a brief submitted by the State and ignoring thousands of pages of a transcript not yet provided to the parties that reflects nine days of testimony in the case, a Missouri Circuit Court has refused to halt enforcement of SB 49, Missouri’s discriminatory law that bars transgender adolescents from receiving gender-affirming medical care and prohibits Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming medical care for transgender people of any age. The law penalizes health care professionals who provide such care to minors with the loss of their medical licenses. The ruling came in Noe v. Parson, a lawsuit challenging the law filed by Lambda Legal, the ACLU of Missouri, and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP.
“We are extremely disappointed in this decision, but this is not the end of the fight and we will appeal. However, the court’s findings signal a troubling acceptance of discrimination, ignore an extensive trial record and the voices of transgender Missourians and those who care for them, and deny transgender adolescents and Medicaid beneficiaries from their right to access to evidence-based, effective, and often life-saving medical care,” Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Missouri said in a joint statement.
“Despite heartfelt testimony from parents of transgender youth, transgender adults who’ve benefited from this care at various stages of life, a transgender minor, and some of Missouri’s most dedicated health care providers, the state has prioritized politics over the well-being of its people,” the organizations added. “This ruling sends a chilling message that, for some, compassion and equal access to health care are still out of reach."
The Associated Press and the Missouri Independent contributed to this story.
