Missouri Bill Would Remove Trans Kids From Parents As Child Abuse - Even If Obtained Out Of State

This bill is part of a flurry of new bills in Missouri that would penalize parents and care providers for providing gender affirming care to trans youth.

A new bill (SB281) just released in Missouri would require all parents who obtain gender affirming care for their trans youth be reported to the state agency for child abuse. It would make gender affirming care for transgender youth illegal under state law and would penalize doctors as well. If Missouri passes this bill into law, it would be the first state to define this medically necessary treatment for many trans teens as child abuse. One other state, Texas, attempted to do the same thing via executive action this year to disastrous consequences. It is unconscionable to think that parents trying following medical guidelines for their trans youth could be jailed and have their children taken away.

The bill starts off like most other anti-trans bills and defines procedures that would be eliminated under the new law. It states that people under 18 cannot have gender affirming surgeries, which are not typically done on trans youth anyway. However, it also adds in puberty blockers and hormone therapy - the mainstays of treatment for transgender youth going through puberty. Puberty can be extremely traumatic for transgender individuals, and early intervention with blockers and hormone therapy can prevent the need for costly surgeries later in life. Furthermore, gender affirming care for trans youth reduces suicide risk by 40-73%. Taking away gender affirming care would endanger their lives heavily.

A provision at the end of the bill, however, is the most shocking:

Final provision in SB281 requiring a referral to child protective services.

All parents who provide gender affirming care for their trans youth would be reported to the Child Protective Services of Missouri. There is no provision that limits this to gender affirming care that occurs within Missouri. This means that parents with their trans youth could be liable for maintaining continuity of care out of state. This not only forces medical detransition on trans youth, many of whom have been living as their gender identity for a long time, it penalizes parents themselves and even could include jail time.

Earlier this year, Greg Abbott in Texas stated that gender affirming care was child abuse under provisions that already existed in Texas. This has been under dispute and fought in court - no law in Texas explicitly defined gender affirming care as child abuse. In fact, multiple laws were heard to detransition trans youth in Texas but none of them passed during the last session. Nonetheless, investigations did occur and they caused serious harms to the families of trans kids. Notable activists like the family of Kai Shappley, a trans kid in Texas, fled the state. Other trans teens attempted suicide. One such teen was driven to Oklahoma by their family to avoid being taken in to Child Protective Services in Texas for being trans and thus removed from their family.

The bill was authored by Senator Bill Eigel of St. Charles County. Sen. Eigel has received endorsements from many anti-trans groups, most notably Concerned Women For America Legislative Action Committee. This group is dedicated to “promoting Biblical values” such as bans on same-sex marriage, in favor of conversion therapy, and against transgender access to bathrooms as seen in a recent interview with the VP of the organization, where transgender people are said to be “not real” and where LGBTQ+ people are seen as “nothing but sin.”

This is not the only anti-trans bill released in Missouri this last week. Three other bills such as SB49, SB164, and SB236 all also attempt to ban gender affirming care. Missouri has also introduced a new bill, SB134, which would prohibit discussion of LGBTQ+ identities in the classroom - note that this is discussion, not instruction. This separates it from other “don’t say gay or trans” bills and would make it impossible for a teacher to transition in the classroom. The all out assault on transgender rights in Missouri must end or it will have a body count measured in suicide victims and a legacy of long term trauma for LGBTQ+ people.