(CNN) Kharri has moved from state to state, away from politics and family, getting the medical gender confirmation care she needs to become her most authentic self without anyone’s intervention.
Kari, 19, is ready to move from Missouri to neighboring Kansas after the Missouri Attorney General introduced emergency rules limiting care for transgender minors and adults.
Gender-affirming care is medically necessary, evidence-based care that uses an interdisciplinary approach to identify the sex assigned (assigned at birth) to the gender affirmed Assist in transitioning to desired gender. Are known.
The rule will take effect Thursday and is scheduled to expire on February 6, 2024, said a release from Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office.
Established patients will be able to continue treatment after the order goes into effect, but new patients may face a number of requirements that severely limit access, the rules say.
Rights groups have sued Bailey over the new rule, which it claims people often do “life-changing interventions” such as puberty suppression and sex reassignment surgery “without any talk therapy at all.” The Government’s Concerns and Needs to Protect the Public Health, Safety, and Well-Being of Missourians”.
A state judge blocked enforcement of the rule Wednesday night. St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Ellen Ribaudo said she would have a decision on plaintiffs’ motions for a temporary injunction by Monday, and said she wanted more time to consider the brief Bailey would file.
The action in Missouri follows North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum’s signing of a bill this week banning most gender-affirming care for minors, leaving the health care professionals who provide it potentially a felony. It follows something. Indiana and Idaho enacted laws this month unilaterally banning gender-affirming care for young people, and several other states have enacted laws in the past few years restricting gender-affirming care for minors. signed.
At a planned parenthood pop-up clinic in neighboring Kansas, Missourians are seeing medical professionals to establish care ahead of impending deadlines.
Ashley Miller, a nurse practitioner at Planned Parenthood, tries to answer patients’ questions about their future in their home country, where their care may not be legal.
“It’s hard not to feel like your local politician is in the room with you,” she said.
“When people tell you who you are and what you want out of life, you want to believe them. We will check with politicians if they do,” Miller added.
live under a mask
Like Kharri, 20-year-old Andi traveled across state lines to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Kansas to establish gender-affirming care for herself and book May appointments to defeat impending mandates. I brought it up.
At their request, CNN uses only the names of Kharri and Andi to protect their privacy.
Andy, who was assigned female at birth, has been weighing the transition decision for six years and said having access to the right care means a lot to him.
Andy feels constantly disconnected from his body. “I’m on a personal journey now. Hopefully, after I start feeling comfortable in my own skin and seeing these changes, I may be able to recognize people in the mirror.” yeah.”
“I think it (the transition) will bring more self-love, confidence and happiness in my life.
Now, Andy says, “I am constantly disconnected from my body, my own existence. When I look in the mirror, I feel like an imposter, an outsider.”
Now, with no support from his family and given state measures, Andy said he relies on his confidence and friends who have become family to help him reach his goals.
“I always feel like I live behind a mask, but I feel it all over my skin,” he said.
Kharri understands that very well. A teenager assigned female at birth, she said she’s felt that way since she was 14.
Kharri says he fled Tennessee a year ago after being rejected by some family members. He is now ready to move again, not knowing what will happen next in Missouri.
For Kharri, Kansas is the last affordable state where he can live and get the medical care he needs for the transition, he said. Having moved from Tennessee to Missouri, he feels like a nomad without a real home and like a refugee in his own country.
“We are frightened,” he said. “This world is scary. Talk to us. Just sit there and listen to what we’re saying. We’re not trying to indoctrinate anyone.” ”
Planned Parenthood patient navigator Angela Huntington said she often hears Kharri describe panic on the other end of the phone as she rushes to get patient appointments at Planned Parenthood pop-up clinics. .
“It’s heartbreaking to hear them talk,” she said. “Some people are ready to make a change…they are ready to make a change. We are forced to make this decision a little early.”
“I just want people to live their best lives and live the life and body that they feel they are. They should be making their own decisions about their bodies and not just themselves and their medical care.” No one should be involved in it, it’s a professional,” she said.