INDIANAPOLIS — The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Indiana are suing the state over a signed bill that now bans gender-affirming care for minors.
Gov. Eric Holcomb signed SB480 on Wednesday.
“Permanent gender-changing surgeries with lifelong impacts and medically prescribed preparation for such a transition should occur as an adult, not as a minor," Holcomb said in a statement.
Almost immediately after Holcomb signed the bill, the ACLU responded with a lawsuit.
The ACLU says the lawsuit was filed on behalf of four transgender youth and their families, as well as a doctor and health care clinic.
The youth in the lawsuit are already receiving gender-affirming care.
When the bill goes into effect July 1, they, and any other Indiana youth who are taking medications to transition, will be required to stop doing so by the end of the year.
Anyone under the age of 18 will not be able to receive gender-affirming care in Indiana beginning July 1.
Beth and Nathanial Clawson are two of the parents of a 10-year-old girl who socially transitioned at the age of 3.
“Starting around the age of two years old, our daughter began telling us who she is. When she was three and a half years old, after researching gender dysphoria and consulting with both her therapist and pediatrician, she socially transitioned. That means we started using she/her pronouns and letting her dress as a girl. That was seven years ago, and she hasn’t wavered at all in knowing who she is,” said Beth.
The Clawsons say their 10-year-old daughter fears what will happen if she can't get this type of care when she starts puberty.
The law would also affect health care professionals in a handful of ways, including prohibiting them from referring trans youth for gender-affirming care.
One of those health care professionals, Dr. Catherine Bast with Mosaic Health and Healing Arts, is also challenging the law on behalf of herself and her patients.
She says it impairs her ability to treat transgender patients with gender dysphoria. It's treatment she says can be lifesaving.
"Studies show that when gender dysphoria is treated with gender-affirming care, the risk of self-harming behaviors, including suicide, diminishes,” Bast said.
In his statement, Holcomb touched on the health care of trans youth when explaining why he decided to sign the bill into law:
"There has and will continue to be debate within the medical community about the best ways to provide physical and mental health care for adolescents who are struggling with their own gender identity, and it is important that we recognize and understand those struggles are real. With all of that in mind, I have decided to sign SB 480 into law."
The ACLU's lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges that SB 480 is unconstitutional in that it violates the Equal Protection Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment.
It also claims that SB 480 violates the federal requirements of the Medicaid Act and the Affordable Care Act, because it "prohibits essential medical services that would otherwise be authorized and reimbursed by Medicaid," the ACLU said.
The bill banning gender-affirming care in Indiana won approval by wide margins in both the House and Senate.
At least 11 states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors, but federal judges have blocked them in Alabama and Arkansas. Around two dozen other states are considering bills to restrict or ban care.
The ACLU also intends to challenge new and proposed bans on gender-affirming care in Tennessee, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Utah, and Montana.
The ACLU and the ACLU of Arkansas challenged Arkansas’ ban, the first in the nation and the subject of a two-week trial in the fall of 2022. The federal judge in that Arkansas trial will soon issue a ruling.