A second university in Missouri announced on Monday it will stop prescribing transgender medication to minors.
After Missouri’s state law restricting transgender care, Washington University in St. Louis joined University of Missouri Health in ceasing to prescribe puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to minors for purposes of gender transition.
"Missouri’s newly enacted law regarding transgender care has created a new legal claim for patients who received these medications as minors," the university said in a statement.
"This legal claim creates unsustainable liability for health-care professionals and makes it untenable for us to continue to provide comprehensive transgender care for minor patients without subjecting the university and our providers to an unacceptable level of liability," the statement continued.
MISSOURI LAW BANNING GENDER-CHANGING TREATMENTS FOR MINORS TAKES EFFECT
Any patients who are currently undergoing gender transition treatment at Washington University’s Transgender Center will be referred to other providers, the university instructed.
Furthermore, Washington said that the Transgender Center will continue to offer education and mental health support for all patients.
A pair of bills signed into law by Missouri Republican Gov. Mike Parson in June went into effect on Monday, restricting transgender youth access to sex-reassignment health care and school sports.
In one law, the state prohibits minors from starting puberty blockers and hormones and makes gender surgeries for youths illegal.
In the other law, student-athletes from kindergarten through college are required to play sports on teams that align with their sex assigned at birth.
Both laws are scheduled to expire in 2027.
Parson, a Republican, said when he signed the bill that the state was standing up "to the nonsense" and sides with women and girls who have "fought for an equal opportunity to succeed."
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Parson also said the bill was meant to "protect children from making life-altering decisions that they could come to regret in adulthood once they have physically and emotionally matured."
The states who have enacted laws restricting or banning sex reassignment care for minors are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, South Dakota and West Virginia.
A federal judge struck down Arkansas' ban as unconstitutional, and federal judges have temporarily blocked bans in Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Oklahoma has agreed not to enforce its ban as opponents are seeking a temporary court order to block it. A federal judge blocked Florida from enforcing its ban for three families who have filed a lawsuit against its law.
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