Missouri Implements Restrictions on Transgender Medical Procedures

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has released an emergency rule that would make it harder for transgender children and adults to access certain medical procedures, calling them "experimental" and arguing they need "substantial guardrails." The rule mandates that anyone receiving puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones or gender-transition surgery must first receive 15 hourly sessions with a psychologist or psychiatrist over at least 18 months. The rule also includes a provision that bars physicians from prescribing puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones unless a patient has three "most recent, consecutive years" of medical documentation showing gender dysphoria.