If you’re a transgender resident of Missouri, the next 10 months are set to be horrible. Under an emergency regulation from state Attorney General Andrew Bailey, it will soon become incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for many patients to receive any sort of gender-affirming care.
It’s just the latest red-state attempt to curtail treatment for trans individuals, but what makes these new regulations stand out is their scope. Republicans elsewhere have framed their crusades against trans youth as attempts to save minors from themselves or the predations of “groomers” who are supposedly turning them into sexualized victims. Missouri’s new regulations, on the other hand, affect everyone — including trans adults, according to a spokesperson for Bailey’s office.
Though some observers have tried to pretend otherwise, the push to de-transition America was never going to remain limited to minors.
Beginning on April 27, it will be considered “an unfair, deceptive, fraudulent, or otherwise unlawful practice” for health care providers in Missouri to provide gender-affirming care without forcing their patients to jump through a number of new hoops. To receive treatment, patients will need a medically documented history of gender dysphoria for the last three years. If you’ve only approached a doctor about trans identity in the last year, you’re out of luck, no matter how long you’ve had those feelings.
Among the regulation’s most onerous provisions is one that precludes treatment on trans individuals unless they undergo at least 15 hourly sessions over the course of a year and a half to “explore the developmental influences on the patient’s current gender identity and to determine, among other things, whether the person has any mental health comorbidities.” Unlike other states, Missouri has not moved to exclude gender-affirming treatments from health insurance coverage. But even with private health insurance, the costs associated with the…
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