A state judge in Missouri on Friday denied a request to temporarily block a state law passed this year that restricts gender-related medical treatments for minors. The ruling was issued by Missouri Circuit Court Judge Steven Ohmer, three days before the ban is set to go into effect. A legal challenge to the ban brought by civil rights groups is ongoing.
The law will restrict any new patients from receiving gender affirming treatments while the case is heard in state court over the next year. And it will continue to prevent Medicaid coverage for the estimated 12,400 transgender people in the state.
Judge Ohmer, who typically presides over juvenile cases, wrote that the science in support of gender-related medicine for youth was “conflicting and unclear,” adding that “the evidence raises more questions than answers.”
In response to the ruling, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri said it would continue to fight to overturn the ban: “The case is not over and will go to a full trial on the merits.”
Category: Science
Source: NYTimes Science
