Missouri Court Upholds Ban on Gender-Affirming Care for Minors

A Missouri law banning medical professionals from using certain gender-affirming treatments to care for transgender minors is valid and enforceable, a state trial judge said.

The Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act doesn’t discriminate against transgender youths on its face and is supported by the “almost total lack of consensus” regarding the ethics of such treatment, Judge R. Craig Carter of the Missouri Circuit Court for Cole County said Monday. The ban, moreover, is rationally related to the state’s legitimate interest ensuring its doctors act ethically, Carter said.

A single judge isn’t permitted “to nullify the results of democratically elected legislators ...