Supreme Court brief states that gender transitions for kids lack safety evidence, according to 23 states.

An amicus brief filed in the Supreme Court Monday by nearly two dozen states, including Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, warns that surgical gender transitions lack sufficient medical evidence to prove their safety.

The topic of surgical sex-change procedures for minors has sparked intense debate, with some states imposing restrictions and prosecuting doctors who perform these surgeries, while others are advocating for broad access to these treatments.

"Missouri is now taking its litigation strategy to protect children from irreversible surgeries to other states, as the first state to successfully defend a legal challenge to such laws, Bailey stated in a Planet Chronicle Digital interview."

He added, "all children are worth defending."

The amicus brief supports the federal cases of North Carolina and West Virginia, which challenge "radical transgender ideology."

In April, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in favor of transgender plaintiffs in lawsuits against North Carolina and West Virginia, mandating both states to provide transgender sex-change procedures and treatments. The court found that excluding these procedures violated the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause and constituted discrimination based on sex and gender identity.

"The amicus brief argues that the science surrounding gender transition interventions is still developing, as the World Health Organization only classified transgender identity as a mental health disorder five years ago. The recent changes make it difficult to believe that these interventions are safe and effective, as the Fourth Circuit's core presumption assumes."

All the states, including Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming, signed onto the brief.

An amicus brief cites an article from the Economist in April 2023 that states that there is a broad consensus that "the evidence is lacking" for these treatments. The brief notes that countries across Europe, including the United Kingdom, France, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, have expressed concerns that the risks "outweigh the benefits." Finland, for example, has labeled these interventions for minors as "experimental" and suggests that treatment should generally remain at the level of "talking therapy" or counseling.

Over a dozen U.S. states have implemented restrictions on transgender youth's access to surgical treatments and hormonal medications.

Several states, including Idaho, North Dakota, Florida, Oklahoma, and Alabama, have made it a felony to perform sex changes on children. Meanwhile, some blue states have enacted "sanctuary state" laws that protect medical providers from penalties for conducting transgender procedures on adolescents.