a spokesperson for the attorney generals office madeline sieren told the associated press that the restrictions would apply to both minors and adults lgbtq advocates slammed baileys decision to restrict the health care available to both adults and minors arguing that baileys announcement is based in discrimination and not science major national medical associations including the american academy of pediatrics the american medical association the american academy of child and adolescent psychiatry and over 20 more agree that genderaffirming care is safe effective beneficial and medically necessary gender dysphoria refers to the stress of being in a body that doesnt feel like ones own rates of regret for knee and hip surgeries are significantly higher studies show studies in the duke university press the national cancer institute and lancet diabetes endocrinology have shown that transgender people face economic and social marginalization violence and discrimination at a higher rate than nontransgender people that research asserts that these issues likely play a role in the persistence of poor health and higher mortality in the community more rates of regret for genderaffirmation surgery are extremely low research shows they hover around 1 according to the plastic and reconstructive surgery medical journal civil rights organizations including lambda legal and the american civil liberties union of missouri vowed to pursue litigation against the move from the attorney generals office attorney general andrew baileys limitations would require adults to attend 18 months of psychological or psychiatric assessments via a therapist before receiving genderaffirming care to explore the developmental influences on the patients current gender identity and to determine among other things whether the person has any mental health comorbidities providers also would need to prove that the patient has exhibited a medically documented longlasting persistent and intense pattern of gender dysphoria for at least three years according to the announcement the research asserts that these issues likely play a role in the persistence of poor health and higher mortality in the community as always our highest priority is the health and wellbeing of our patients amid antilgbtq efforts transgender community finds joy in chosen families baileys announcement focuses on the risks associated with genderaffirming care but physicians have told abc news that all medications surgeries or vaccines for any kind of treatment come with risk and genderaffirming care is no different the center said it was alarmed by the allegations andrew bailey missouris attorney general speaks to members of the media following oral arguments outside the us supreme court in washington dc feb 28 2023 bailey also cited the high mortality rate for transgender people in his announcement though bailey calls puberty blockers experimental in his announcement drugs in the class have been fda approved since the 1990s to treat early puberty studies have also shown that its rare for people to reverse a transition after undergoing genderaffirming care according to research in the journal lgbt health which also found that those who reverse their transition often do so because of pressures