"As the Missouri Independent reports, the court's unanimous decision upholds a 2024 circuit court ruling in a case challenging Senate Bill 49. The law, signed by Gov. Mike Parson (R) in 2023, bans minors from accessing any form of gender-affirming care, including puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy, and surgeries. It also bans the state's Medicaid program from covering gender-affirming care for people of all ages."
"The challenge against the law was brought by Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Missouri on behalf of three families of transgender young people, medical providers, and LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations, who argued that the law should be subject to heightened scrutiny, a more rigorous legal standard applied to cases involving the classification of individuals by specific characteristics like gender."
Missouri's Supreme Court unanimously upheld S.B. 49, a 2023 law banning gender-affirming care for minors and barring state Medicaid from covering such care. Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Missouri challenged the law on behalf of families, medical providers, and LGBTQ+ organizations, arguing it should receive heightened scrutiny as discriminatory based on sex and transgender status. The courts rejected heightened scrutiny, finding S.B. 49 "classifies only based on medical use and age." The state court's reasoning mirrors United States v. Skrmetti, which held similar bans do not discriminate on the basis of sex or transgender status, and notes broad deference in issues fraught with medical uncertainty.
Read at LGBTQ Nation
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]