ST. LOUIS — Planned Parenthood held a pop-up clinic at its Central West End location on Monday for people seeking gender-affirming care, 10 days before new rules that would make Missouri the first state to greatly restrict care for transgender adults go into effect.
Doors opened at 8 a.m. Two hours later, the more than two dozen time slots were filled for the day, and another dozen people made appointments for later this week.
“This is a last-ditch effort to not lose access to care I’ve been getting for a large part of my life,” said Emmett Campbell, 19, a sophomore at Washington University. He visited the pop-up clinic to get a prescription for testosterone.
Planned Parenthood also filled extra appointments for gender-affirming care at its Fairview Heights and Springfield, Missouri, clinics on Monday; administrators have added more than 200 appointment slots at all three clinics to try and handle demand before the new rules kick in April 27.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican, filed an emergency regulation Thursday, under consumer protection laws, claiming such medical treatments are experimental and provided without adequate mental health care.
The new rules require a long checklist before receiving care, including three years of medically documented gender dysphoria, 15 therapy sessions over the course of at least 18 months, and the treatment and resolution of all mental health conditions.
Campbell has been taking testosterone since he was 14 and said he was looking for a new doctor to prescribe him the medication when Bailey announced the new rules. His endocrinologist back home in Tennessee had left her job because of that state's recent ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors.
With just three weeks left of his current prescription, Campbell cried when he heard the news.
“Terrifying is an understatement,” he said.
Dr. Collen McNicholas, chief medical officer for the St. Louis region’s Planned Parenthood, provided care to walk-in patients Monday.
Some came, she said, because their medical providers have stopped offering gender-affirming care; others were wanting to start the process, while some were seeking to resume treatment.
“So many patients today have said this therapy for them has been life-saving,” McNicholas said. “It is important to do what we can to make sure they get that care.”
Bailey’s spokeswoman, Madeline Sieren, did not respond to a reporter’s request to interview Bailey about the rules.
When the proposed rules were first announced a few weeks ago, they only applied to minors. Republican-led state legislatures across the country this year have moved to restrict gender-affirming care for minors, arguing little is known on the long-term impacts.
“We believe everyone is entitled to evidence-based medicine and adequate mental health care,” Sieren said Friday, after the rules were filed.
Fast-forwarding plans
Iz Silva, 20, of Kirkwood, was not able to be seen at Monday’s walk-in clinic but left with a smile after getting an appointment for Thursday.
Silva uses they/them pronouns and was planning to start testosterone this summer, when they had a break between community college classes and trying to get into a nursing program. The emergency regulations sped up their plans.
Though they're happy to get an appointment before April 27, Silva said, “That doesn’t stop me from being scared.”
Jah’kayla Moore, 36, of St. Louis, said she has identified as a woman for nearly 20 years.
“I only put on male clothes for my mom,” she said.
That changed by the time she was 21 and living on her own.
But the hair, clothes and makeup haven’t been enough for others to accept her, she said. Moore came to the clinic because she felt like it was her last chance to finally receive hormone treatment with estrogen; without health insurance, she has never been able to afford it.
“Am I living my life? No, because I get ridiculed every day when I go out of my house. I get talked about every day,” Moore said. “I know you’re not supposed to care what others think about you, but it’s hard.”
“I don’t want to be known as 'him,'” she said.
Jack Grimes, 21, a senior at Washington University, has identified as male since age 9 but was never able to fully be himself while growing up in a small town in North Carolina. He began using testosterone a year ago, a decision “necessary for my continued survival,” he said.
Grimes said he is a month away from needing his prescription refilled, and with the new rule, his current doctor could not promise the prescription could be refilled and would not refill it early. With so much uncertainty, he said, he sought a new prescription at the walk-in clinic.
As soon as he graduates, Grimes said he plans to move to Minneapolis to live in a state that has moved to protect gender-affirming care.
“I wish that people would just stay out of our business,” he said.
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