Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said that an investigation by his office discovered several clinics helping minors change their genders.
“There’s a shadowy, clandestine network of these clinics across the state of Missouri that are encouraging kids to come in,” Bailey said on the John Solomon Reports podcast.
Missouri AG says probe uncovered 'shadowy' network of clinics helping minors change gender.
Missouri GOP Attorney General Andrew Bailey said Wednesday an investigation by his office has uncovered a network of clinics that are helping minors transition from one gender 2 another.
— DOUG IS MY GOV (@DougIsMyGov) March 22, 2023
In February 2023, Bailey’s office began investigating the Pediatric Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital after a whistleblower alleged that child “transitioning” had gone too far at the clinic.
“This is a whistleblower that voluntarily worked at a pediatric transgender clinic because she believes in transgender rights,” Bailey explained.
“She is self-described as a progressive. And so when she says these procedures go too far and that there aren’t adequate safety guards in place and the children are being harmed, we’ve got to take it seriously,” he added.
Bailey said the investigation centered on whether clinics used experimental drugs on children without parental consent.
“This is a woke left-wing ideology that’s masquerading as medicine and it’s harming children,” he said.
“I mean European nations that are far to the left of America like Sweden, Norway, England and France-they’ve abandoned these kinds of treatments,” he continued.
Bailey enacted several emergency regulations clarifying that state law restricts gender transitioning procedures for children without “specific guardrails.”
Some of the “guardrails” include prohibiting gender transitioning procedures when a clinic fails to mentally assess a patient and informing patients that the use of puberty blockers or gender-changing hormones is experimental and not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The rule will go into effect 10 days after filing it with Missouri’s secretary of state office.
On Feb. 15, 2023, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced a bill that would allow people “harmed” by gender transitioning procedures as minors to bring legal action against clinics and providers, barring federal funding to any universities or hospitals affiliated with such clinics.
The legislation, Protecting Our Kids from Child Abuse Act, has not yet passed any chambers of Congress.
President Joe Biden has prioritized advancing the rights of the LGBTQI+ community, including giving children access to gender-affirming care.
In June 2022, Biden signed an executive order instructing the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure children receive gender-affirming care in all states.
If children are not old enough to vote, how are they “old enough” to make life-changing decisions about their bodies?
