Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey sidestepped the state senate Monday and announced he would file an emergency regulation to cut off support for gender-affirming care for minors. Bailey’s move outraged advocacy groups, which slammed him for his rule that would enact an 18-month waiting period to receive care and require all patients to undergo 15 hour-long therapy sessions beforehand. “Sadly, rather than addressing the real harm trans students face, Missouri’s General Assembly and Attorney General are using their governmental powers to erase trans existence,” the ACLU of Missouri tweeted. The attorney general’s rule also says doctors would have to treat mental illnesses of any kind before giving care to transgender minors, while also adding warnings for use of puberty blocker drugs. Planned Parenthood took aim at Bailey in a tweet, saying “the politically driven claims made in the announcement are medically false and harmful.” “Scientific evidence shows—and the medical community agrees —that gender-affirming care is safe, effective, and life-saving,” the organization added. PROMO Missouri, an LGBTQ advocate group, accused Bailey of using “transgender bodies as political pawns” with his emergency regulation.