Missouri AG Moves against ‘Progressive Woke Ideology’ with Emergency Trans Treatment Rule

An investigation led by Missouri’s state attorney general’s office has uncovered a “shadowy network” of so-called transgender children’s medical clinics in the state that are leaving children with permanent disabilities and suffering from “debilitating consequences.”

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) said these clinics, fueled by a “progressive woke ideology,” are conducting “experimentation on children masquerading as medicine,” during an appearance Thursday on “Washington Watch.” Earlier in the day, the attorney general issued an emergency regulation that placed restrictions on gender transition interventions in the state. The rule does not prohibit individuals of any age “experiencing gender dysphoria or related conditions” from receiving transgender procedures in Missouri. Instead, the order stipulates that such procedures should not be an intervention that lacks “solid evidentiary support.”

According to a release from the attorney general’s office, Missouri law already “prohibits performing those procedures in the absence of substantial guardrails that ensure informed consent and adequate access to mental health care.” The emergency regulation is designed to ensure patients considering such surgeries or procedures are given “specific informed-consent disclosures” and that patients receive a “full psychological or psychiatric assessment,” as specified in the order.

The release continues, “The regulation is necessary due to the skyrocketing number of gender transition interventions, despite rising concerns in the medical community that these interventions lack clinical evidence of safety or success.”

The emergency rule, which effectively ends transgender surgeries for minors in the state during its term, is based on science and flows out of a months-long, multi-agency investigation in Missouri, Bailey said.

While the proponents of these gender transition procedures claim otherwise, Bailey insisted it is not medical care that is being offered. “We had to push back,” he continued. “We had to put safety guards in place.”

The emergency regulations “hold providers accountable and ensure that parents understand that these drugs are experimental in nature and have serious long-term health consequences for these poor children,” Bailey explained, adding that much of the current treatment is “not evidence-based and is dangerous.”

The attorney general told guest host Jody Hice that allegations, based on the reports of whistleblowers and the state investigation, led them to conclude “the clinic does not track adverse consequences of the administration of these drugs or the surgeries.” Bailey explained these groups are practicing “science experimentation on children” with little concern for the long-term impact.

“We also have allegations that parents were forced into consenting to their children’s treatment,” Bailey continued, relating an account in which the parents of a child with a mental health condition were told, “Do you want a dead daughter or a live son?” He said the patient had not received any kind of psychological assessment or appropriate psychiatric care, yet the patient and the family were being effectively coerced into radical treatment.

Bailey stressed his deep concern for these children who come into a medical center confused about their bodies and their sexual identity. Yet he said the root of much of this concern is in youngsters’ social media consumption.

“Seventy-five percent of the kids, according to the affidavit,” he explained, “say that they learned about their gender on TikTok.”

“Think about that for a minute. This is scary stuff,” Bailey went on. “And rather than providing psychology and psychiatry and then tracking the positive outcomes from just talking to the kids, we race to the administration of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones that cause blindness, brain swelling, loss of bone density, and ultimately referring surgery and injecting suicidal ideation into a conversation where it didn’t exist before.”

 “They’re not treating mental health. They’re making it worse,” he argued, suggesting, “Radical left-wing individuals would rather push a progressive woke ideology and do so at the expense and to the harm and detriment of children.”

“This is all about protecting children for me,” the attorney general said, acknowledging there are many individuals and groups who vehemently oppose his office’s efforts to protect children. “As a foster parent and adoptive parent, a father of four, there’s no end to the amount of energy I will put towards protecting children in the state of Missouri.”

The investigation that led to the state’s emergency regulation on pediatric gender interventions was sparked earlier this year by a whistleblower who worked at The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Bailey said the individual notified his office of what Bailey termed “nothing short of child abuse.”

Bailey said the initial whistleblower is a “progressive who self-identifies as someone who supports transgender rights.” He said what she saw at the pediatric transgender clinic in Saint Louis scared her to the point that she came forward and was willing to swear under oath to the veracity of her allegations. Upon beginning its investigation into the clinic, the attorney general’s office issued a moratorium on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones and the referral of minors for irreversible surgeries in the state.

Missouri is just the latest state to take action against pediatric clinics that are providing so-called “gender-affirming care” for children. Legislation reacting to the rapidly increasing number of children receiving such care has been adopted or is pending in a growing number of states across the nation.