The plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Missouri’s ban on child transgender surgeries are vowing to fight a state judge’s Aug. 25 decision to uphold the prohibition rather than grant a preliminary injunction.
Cole County Circuit Judge Steven Ohmer ruled in favor of allowing the state to prohibit health care providers from performing gender reassignment on minors.
“While we are disappointed in and disagree with the court’s ruling, we will not stop fighting to protect the rights of transgender people in Missouri,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys said in a statement to the St. Louis Record. “The case is not over and will go to a full trial on the merits.”
The science and medical evidence supporting transgender surgery is conflicting and unclear, according to Ohmer.
“The court further finds that petitioners have not clearly shown a sufficient probability of success on the merits to justify the grant of a preliminary injunction,” he wrote in his Aug. 25 order. “Petitioners have not clearly shown a sufficient threat of irreparable injury. Absent injunctive relief, the balance between the harm to petitioners and injury to others does not clearly weigh in favor of granting a preliminary injunction. Finally, a clear public interest would not be furthered by granting a preliminary junction in this matter…The evidence raises more questions than answers.”
A status hearing is scheduled for Sept. 22.
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, three families of transgender young people sued Parson to block Senate Bill 49.
SB 49, also known as the SAFE Act, prevents transgender adolescents in Missouri from accessing gender-affirming medical care and bars Missouri's Medicaid program from providing payment for gender transition surgeries, cross-sex hormones, or puberty-blocking drugs for the purpose of gender transition.
The Missouri General Assembly approved SB 49 on May 10 and Gov. Parson signed it into law on June 7 after Attorney General Bailey rescinded an emergency rule seeking to impose limits on gender-affirming care for transgender people of all ages.
The Experimental Interventions to Treat Gender Dysphoria rule was similarly challenged by Lambda Legal, the ACLU of Missouri in Southampton Community Healthcare v. Bailey on behalf of Southampton Community Healthcare, Kelly Storck, Logan Casey and the families of two young transgender people who sought a temporary restraining order against it.
The 21st Judicial Circuit Judge Ellen Ribaudo granted a temporary restraining order which blocked the emergency rule's enforcement on May 16.