Missouri law protecting children from transgender medicine upheld by circuit court

Missouri’s Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act is safe for now, after a Missouri circuit court ruled the law constitutional on Monday.

The SAFE Act, or Senate Bill 49, was signed into law by Gov. Mike Parson on June 7, 2023. It prohibits transgender treatments such as cross-sex hormones, puberty-blocking drugs and surgeries on minors for the next four years, exempting those already receiving them.

The ACLU filed suit shortly afterward on behalf of the families of three transgender children aged 10, 13 and 14; Southampton Community Healthcare and two of its medical providers; and the organizations PFLAG and GLMA. PFLAG advocates for LGBTQ people and GLMA is an organization of LGBTQ-allied health professionals.    

Monday, Cole County Circuit Court issued a ruling on the case, Noe v. Parson, declaring “SB 49 is constitutional.” The order, signed by Judge R. Craig Carter, indicated the court was persuaded by arguments made for the constitutionality of a similar law in Indiana. 

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey celebrated the ruling on Monday. 

“The Court has left Missouri’s law banning child mutilation in place, a resounding victory for our children,” Bailey said in a press release. “We are the first state in the nation to successfully defend such a law at the trial court level. I’m extremely proud of the thousands of hours my office put in to shine a light on the lack of evidence supporting these irreversible procedures. We will never stop fighting to ensure Missouri is the safest state in the nation for children.”