The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), together with Lambda Legal and Bryan Cave Leighton LLP, are suing the state of Missouri to block a new rule that bans gender-affirming care for most minors. The regulation, due to come into effect on Thursday, would prevent medical professionals from providing gender-affirming care to minors who have not experienced a medically documented, intense pattern of gender dysphoria for at least three consecutive years. Patients would also be required to undergo screening for social media addiction and autism before receiving care. The plaintiffs maintain that Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey does not have the authority to use a state consumer-protection law to regulate gender-affirming care via emergency rule-making. They assert that the rule is discriminatory and a “baseless… attempt to limit the healthcare options for transgender individuals”, according to Dr Samuel Tochtrop of plaintiff Southampton Community Healthcare.