Committee adopts substitute and approves bundled measures on gender-affirming care by 10-4

Chairman Christ moved that House Bills 35, 10801, 10308 and 1016 be voted “do pass” and the committee adopted a committee substitute that rolls the four measures together. By roll call, the committee voted 10 ayes and 4 nos to approve the House committee substitute and recommend the bills for passage.

The votes followed more than an hour of comments during the executive session portion of the hearing, with members debating whether the bills should limit medical treatments for transgender minors. Representative Fuchsia urged colleagues to consider testimony from transgender people and their families and said she would “defend their right to exist until my last breath.” Representative Wick said the bills would “criminalize doctors for following best practices” and argued that they would make medical professionals and teachers “unsafe” in Missouri. Representative Hovis said she supports the measures because she opposes providing “those chemicals” to minors and cited studies she said show higher suicide…