Despite a claim from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey otherwise, the Washington University Pediatric Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital is not closing down.
Last week, Bailey issued a press release after a whistleblower said the clinic was shutting down.
““This is a huge win for the rule of law and for the safety of our children,” Bailey said in the July 16 release. “The closure of any clinic who has mutilated children is a major step towards that goal. I will not stop until the clandestine network of clinics mutilating children is permanently dismantled and bad actors are held accountable.”
But Washington University disputed Bailey’s claim. In a statement sent to a St. Louis television station, a university spokesperson said the center was adjusting its services in the wake of a new Missouri state law that bans minors from beginning puberty blockers and hormones.
“The scope of care provided at the Center changed last year after Missouri passed a new law on the subject,” the university statement said. “Since then, we have continued to support our transgender patients appropriately and in accordance with the law. We have no plans to change that approach.”
Reed worked at the center from 2018 to 2022. Many of her claims later were confirmed by the New York Times.
“In a sworn affidavit, the whistleblower says that the actions taken by the center have led children to attempt suicide and that the center never discontinued prescribing cross-sex hormones, no matter how much those drugs are harming the child,” Bailey’s office said in its July 16 press release. “The whistleblower also has provided documentary evidence that the center has been unlawfully billing state taxpayers to fund these actions.
The pediatric transgender center ceased providing gender transition interventions to minors in September, days after Bailey successfully defended in court Missouri’s bill banning such procedures.
With Bailey’s victory in court, Missouri became the first state in the nation to successfully defend at the trial court level a law barring child mutilation.
According to the attorney general’s office, Bailey’s investigation into the clinic continues “in his fight to protect children.”
Bailey’s office currently is battling in court to force the clinic to turn over documents. His office boasts that it has emerged victorious in all three of its other lawsuits to force other clinics to comply with his subpoenas.