Gender Affirming Care

Kansas will end all access to hormone treatments and other gender-affirming care for transgender minors in January. To keep getting care for their children, some families are opting to leave the state entirely.

The proposed constitutional amendment also includes a ban on gender-affirming health care for minors, a provision opponents say violates a state law requiring amendments only cover one subject.

Studies are showing that Missouri's laws targeting gay and transgender people have already pushed LGBTQ+ residents to move — taking their tax dollars, and even businesses, elsewhere. One analysis estimates that Missouri has lost between $362 million to $879 million in household income, and that's expected to increase.

Since 2023, access to puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones has radically diminished in Missouri, thanks in part to national attention and political outcry.

The case before the Missouri Supreme Court comes after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a similar law in Tennessee that bars transgender minors from getting gender-affirming care.

GOP lawmakers placed a constitutional amendment on the 2026 ballot that would repeal Amendment 3, the abortion rights measure that Missouri voters approved last year. Except the new ballot summary didn't mention that it would ban abortion — so a Cole County judge ruled that it must be rewritten.

An appeals court ruled Tuesday that the Missouri Attorney General's Office may receive protected health information in its investigation of adolescent gender-affirming care, though it rejected the attorney general's claims of broad investigative authority.

The departing GOP official made a major splash in his short time as Missouri attorney general.

The policy from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services appears to target any reference to transgender or nonbinary people. The agency threatened to withhold federal funding for preventing teen pregnancy.

Shawnee Mission, Olathe, Topeka and Kansas City, Kansas, public school districts allegedly allowed students to participate in sports and use restrooms that align with their gender identity. The districts also permitted teachers to maintain confidentiality with transgender students.

Missouri has banned medical gender-affirming health care for youth and some adults since 2023. But there are plenty of other forms of gender-affirming care happening in the state, and advocates say it’s saving lives. Plus: Missouri’s Medicaid program is about to go through a major change with the advent of federally imposed work requirements.

Missouri has banned medical gender-affirming care for youth and some adults since 2023. But other forms of gender-affirming care is happening in the state — including haircuts, facial waxing and photography — and advocates say it's saving lives.