A Missouri judge says a law banning surgery, medications for transgender minors is constitutional

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri court on Monday upheld a new state law that bans some gender-affirming health care for minors, a victory for supporters of the ban as a multitude of lawsuits against similar bans in other states continue to play out.

Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey said in a statement that Missouri is the “first state in the nation to successfully defend such a law at the trial court level.” Bailey, who tried to ban minors’ access to gender-affirming health care through rule change but dropped the effort when the law passed, is responsible for defending the legislation in court.

“I’m extremely proud of the thousands of hours my office put in to shine a light on the lack of evidence supporting these irreversible procedures," Bailey said. "We will never stop fighting to ensure Missouri is the safest state in the nation for children.”

Every major medical organization, including the American Medical Association, has opposed the bans on gender-affirming care for minors and supported the medical care for youth when administered appropriately.

Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Missouri, which are representing the plaintiffs who sued to overturn the law, on Monday said they will appeal the ruling.

Missouri is among at least 26 states that have adopted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors.

Federal judges have struck down the bans in Arkansas and Florida as unconstitutional, though a federal appeals court has stayed the Florida ruling. A judge’s orders is in place temporarily blocking enforcement of the ban in Montana. New Hampshire restrictions are to take effect in January 2025.

The Missouri law banned gender-affirming surgeries for children and teenagers under the age of 18, as well as hormones and puberty blockers for minors who had not started those treatments as of August 2023. The law expires in August 2027.

These treatments are accepted by major medical groups as evidence-based care that transgender people should be able to access.

Most adults still are allowed to access gender-affirming health care under the Missouri law, but Medicaid won’t cover it.

The plaintiffs, including family of several teenagers who are transgender, argued the law takes away medically necessary treatments from transgender minors while still allowing other children to access similar surgeries and medications.

Wright County Circuit Court Judge Craig Carter disagreed. In his ruling, the southern Missouri judge wrote that he believes there's “an almost total lack of consensus as to the medical ethics of adolescent gender dysphoria treatment.”

“The evidence at trial showed severe disagreement as to whether adolescent gender dysphoria drug and surgical treatment was ethical at all, and if so, what amount of treatment was ethically allowable,” Carter wrote.

Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Missouri in a statement said the ruling signals that "for some, compassion and equal access to health care are still out of reach.”

"The court’s findings signal a troubling acceptance of discrimination, ignore an extensive trial record and the voices of transgender Missourians and those who care for them, and deny transgender adolescents and Medicaid beneficiaries from their right to access to evidence-based, effective, and often life-saving medical care,” the organizations said.

The states that have passed laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors include: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

FILE - People applaud during a rally in favor of legislation banning gender-affirming healthcare for minors, Monday, March 20, 2023, at the Missouri Statehouse in Jefferson City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

FILE - People applaud during a rally in favor of legislation banning gender-affirming healthcare for minors, Monday, March 20, 2023, at the Missouri Statehouse in Jefferson City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

FILE - Julia Williams holds a sign in counterprotest during a rally in favor of a ban on gender-affirming health care legislation, Monday, March 20, 2023, at the Missouri Statehouse in Jefferson City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

FILE - Supporters of a resolution that would make Kansas City, Mo, a sanctuary city for transgender people celebrate outside of city council chambers after a committee approved the resolution, sending it to the full council for consideration, Wednesday, May 10, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana civil court judge on Monday halted state agencies' plans to forcibly clear homeless encampments in New Orleans.

Orleans Parish Civil District Court Judge Ethel Julien issued a temporary restraining order blocking state police and two other agencies from evicting homeless people from their encampments in New Orleans or seizing their property without following city laws and due process.

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry had called earlier this month for the City of New Orleans to remove a large encampment before Thanksgiving and warned he would intervene if the city did not comply.

“If a judge believes that people have a right to be on whatever public space they choose, maybe that judge should have them move into her chambers and courtroom," Landry said after the judge issued the restraining order Monday.

Louisiana State Police spokesperson Sgt. Katharine Stegall said the agency’s legal team and the state Attorney General’s Office are reviewing the order.

State police have “promptly halted activities” and are “complying with the restrictions” of the order, Stegall said.

Landry and New Orleans officials have repeatedly clashed over how to address the issue of homelessness in the city.

New Orleans City Councilmember Lesli Harris said Monday that directing more resources towards moving homeless people into stable housing was “infinitely more effective than punitive sweeps” of encampments.

“Coordination between the government and service providers on the housing of people is imperative, and continuously moving people only makes it that much harder to house them,” Harris said.

But the governor has pushed to clear homeless encampments. In late October, Louisiana State Police, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the Department of Transportation and Development converged on a homeless encampment under a highway to remove and relocate dozens of people prior to pop star Taylor Swift’s concerts in the nearby Superdome.

Some people who had been away at the time of the clearances returned to the area to find they had lost their personal property including family heirlooms, identification documents and medication, according to testimony in court documents.

City officials and advocates for homeless people decried the evictions and said they disrupted ongoing efforts to secure long-term housing for these individuals because they became harder to locate.

A judge later granted a temporary restraining order preventing more clearances but declined to extend it beyond early November after lawyers representing the state police indicated in court that removals tied to the Taylor Swift concerts had ceased.

But on Friday, homeless people began receiving flyers from state police officers ordering them to leave their encampments within 24 hours, according to a motion for relief filed on behalf of two homeless plaintiffs by the Southern Poverty Law Center and two other legal groups. The planned sweeps preceded the Bayou Classic football game on Saturday between Southern University and Grambling State University at the Superdome.

“Your presence is considered a violation,” the flyers stated, according to the motion for relief.

However, they were halted by the new temporary restraining order. On Dec. 3, the judge is scheduled to deliberate on whether to issue a preliminary injunction against the three state agencies.

“The vulnerable people with disabilities who make up the vast majority of people living in the street deserve to be treated with sensitivity and compassion,” said Joe Heeren-Mueller, director of community engagement for Unity of Greater New Orleans, a homeless outreach organization.

There are about 1,450 homeless people in New Orleans and neighboring Jefferson Parish, according to a January survey by the nonprofit Unity of Greater New Orleans. The city has committed to securing housing for these individuals by the end of 2025.

Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on the social platform X: @jack_brook96

FILE - People living in a homeless encampment pick up belongings after Louisiana State police gave instructions for them to move to a different pre-designated location as they perform a sweep in advance of a Taylor Swift concert in New Orleans, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)