ST. LOUIS — A Missouri judge issued a restraining order against Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s proposed restrictions on the health care treatments Monday.
Here are the reactions from politicians, healthcare organizations, lawyers and more.
Plaintiffs
The case Southampton Community Healthcare v. Bailey seeks to shut down the restrictions on gender-affirming care for transgender patients. The plaintiffs are Southampton Community Healthcare, Kelly Storck, Logan Casey, and the families of two transgender adolescents. The ACLU of Missouri, Lambda Legal, and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP represent the plaintiffs.
Southampton Community Healthcare’s Dr. Michael Donovan:
We thank the Court for understanding the urgency of temporarily stopping enforcement of the Attorney General’s emergency rule that would have immediate impacts on the way we provide care to our patients.
Without this halt on the baseless and discriminatory rule, our practice would have been forced to grapple with how to provide ethical medical care to our transgender patients in a way consistent with our obligations under a rule that places illogical barriers to necessary care.
Gillian Wilcox, Deputy Director of Litigation for the ACLU of Missouri:
Today's ruling marks a win for transgender Missourians over an unprecedented attempt by the Attorney General to unilaterally legislate and harm their right to self-expression, bodily autonomy, and access to lifesaving health care.
As was clear from the beginning, the Attorney General’s claim of an emergency was proven an untruthful and dangerous attempt to get involved in individual and family medical decisions, showing that he will attack the very people he [is] supposed to serve and protect.
Nora Huppert, Staff Attorney at Lambda Legal:
We are immensely gratified by today’s ruling, which strikes a blow against this outrageous attempt to ban gender-affirming care for broad categories of transgender people of all ages.
We will continue to fight for our clients and for all transgender people in Missouri until this dangerous and unprecedented policy is set fully aside, and we will not be deterred by any attempt to shield this policy from the scrutiny of Missouri’s courts.
Bailey’s office has not yet responded to requests for comment.
Planned Parenthood
Yamelsie Rodríguez, president and CEO, Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri:
Today’s decision is a temporary win for the thousands of Missourians who rely on this care. In the month since the rule was announced, our gender-affirming care patient population has more than doubled, demonstrating that people need this life-saving care, and don’t want an unelected attorney general using his personal ideology to dictate what they can do with their bodies and lives.
We remain optimistic that the court will permanently strike down this harmful ban. The Attorney General has no business regulating our patients’ health care, just like transphobia and junk science have no place in health care.
Today’s order is encouraging, but we know these attacks will continue. The Attorney General is dead set on denying science and evidence to attack the trans community in the same way his predecessor attacked people seeking an abortion. But we'll never stop standing with and fighting for our patients — we’re here no matter what.