ACLU sues to block Missouri rule on transgender health care

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and SUMMER BALLENTINE
Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The ACLU is suing to block new Missouri restrictions on both adults and children seeking gender-affirming health care. Lawyers representing transgender Missourians and health care providers on Monday asked a St. Louis County judge to stop the first-of-its-kind rule from kicking in Thursday. The Republican attorney general has marketed the rule as a way to protect minors from what he describes as experimental treatments, although the restrictions also apply to adults. Bailey says the rules are common sense. He says gender-affirming care is “ideologically-based procedures masquerading as medicine.”