‘Will not stop now’: AG sues university clinic allegedly transitioning minors for not complying with investigation

(Daily Caller News Foundation) – Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey of Missouri filed a counter-lawsuit against Washington University in St. Louis (WU) Thursday for refusing to provide records regarding its Pediatric Transgender Clinic, where children were allegedly rushed into transgender procedures, according to court documents.

The university filed a lawsuit against Bailey on Monday in the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court, asking it to determine whether or not the attorney general’s request for patient records is legal, according to KSDK. Bailey responded with his own lawsuit, arguing that the university had already agreed to give him the records but changed their minds, which he claimed was due to federal interference, according to a press release. 

“We will not let Joe Biden and his federal bureaucrats interfere with our investigation into the pediatric transgender clinic. These documents are critical to exposing that children were subject to irreversible, life-altering procedures without full and informed parental consent,” Bailey said in a press release. “We’ve been fighting to protect children since the day I took office, and we will not stop now.”

Bailey claimed in the press release that his office has “reason to believe” that the Biden administration is encouraging the university to not comply with the investigation by citing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and he is requesting that the court force the university to comply with his requests for records.

A whistleblower revealed in February that WU’s Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital was allegedly rushing hundreds of children into getting on cross-sex hormones, even if the parents of the child disagreed with the decision, which prompted Bailey to open an investigation. The university initially complied with the investigation and produced records in response to a request from his office, Bailey said in his lawsuit.

In August, however, the university stopped sending the requested documents and later said they would only agree to give more records if they could redact “personal health information,” which had not been done prior, according to the lawsuit. The AG’s office agreed, with the provision that it could object to information being redacted if it was deemed necessary, but the university allegedly continued to redact “full paragraphs or entire pages of responsive and relevant material.”

WU did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.