What is gender-affirming health care? Missouri Republicans are dead set on limiting it

The Missouri Senate has passed bills to bar children under the age of 18 from receiving puberty blockers or hormone treatments. But as the conservative campaign against gender-affirming care expands across the nation, often lost is an explanation of what it entails. Here are some basics.
Missouri Republicans in recent months have attacked health care options for transgender minors in the state, launching legislative, investigative and media campaigns to drastically curtail gender-affirming care in the St. Louis area.

Legislators in the Senate last month passed bills to bar children under the age of 18 from receiving puberty blockers or hormone treatments. House GOP leaders have said passing their own version of the legislation will be a priority in the waning weeks of the legislative session. Trans minors and their parents are bracing for those bills to become laws.