Protesters stand outside the Senate chamber at the Indiana Statehouse on February 22, 2023, in Indianapolis.
Darron Cummings/AP
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Darron Cummings/AP
Protesters stand outside the Senate chamber at the Indiana Statehouse on February 22, 2023, in Indianapolis.
Darron Cummings/AP
INDIANAPOLIS — A federal judge issued an order on Friday blocking Indiana’s ban on puberty-suppressing drugs and hormones for transgender minors from taking effect as scheduled for May 1. Seven.
Indiana’s American Civil Liberties Union has sought the interim order in its legal challenge to the Republican-backed law, enacted this spring amid the Republican-led legislature. leading national push to limit LGBTQ+ rights.
An order from US District Court Judge James Patrick Hanlon will allow the law banning transgender surgery to go into effect. Hanlon’s order also blocks provisions that prohibit Indiana doctors from communicating with out-of-state physicians about sex-determined care for their patients under the age of 18.
The ACLU filed the lawsuit within hours of Republican Governor Eric Holcomb signing the bill on April 5. The challenger, on behalf of four young men undergoing transgender treatment and an Indiana doctor, who provided providing such care, arguing that the ban would violate the equal protection guarantees of the United States Constitution and trample on the right of parents to make medical decisions for their children.
Indiana’s Republican-dominated legislature approved the ban after controversial hearings that largely featured testimony from strong opponents, with many suggesting that the move Gender-affirming care reduces the risk of depression and suicide in transgender youth.
Indiana’s Republican-dominated legislature approved the ban after controversial hearings that largely featured testimony from strong opponents, with many suggesting that caregiving Gender affirmation reduces the risk of depression and suicide in young people diagnosed with “gender dysphoria” or gender identity distress. does not match a person’s specified gender.
Hanlon, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, wrote that he is preventing the law from taking effect because opponents of it have demonstrated potentially irreparable harm to those receiving treatment. and showed “some probability of success” in arguing that it was unconstitutional.
The ACLU has provided “evidence about the risks to the health and well-being of minors from gender dysphoria if such treatments are no longer offered to the minor — prolonging the disorder.” their distress, while also adding to their suffering and health risks, such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicide,” Hanlon said. “Although the State has identified good reasons for regulation in this area, the evidence indicated does not demonstrate, at least at this stage, that the scope of its regulation is covered. closely to maintain those interests.”
ACLU leaders hailed the ruling as a victory in the fight “to protect the right of all transgender people to be themselves, without discrimination.”
“We will not rest until this unconstitutional law is permanently repealed,” said Ken Falk, the legal director of the ACLU of Indiana.
At least 20 GOP-led states have now enacted laws restricting or banning such medical treatments to transgender minors after the governor of Missouri signed that state’s bill last week. before. Lawsuits have been filed in several states against the ban on transgender treatment. Federal judges have also blocked enforcement of the law in Alabama and Arkansas, and Oklahoma has agreed not to enforce its ban while opponents seek a temporary court order blocking it.
Indiana bill’s sponsor, Republican Representative Joanna King of Middlebury said when the ban was contested it would “protect our children from irreversible, harmful, altering proceedings life.”
Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita’s office said in a statement that it was disappointed by the decision but “we will continue to fight for children.” The statement said the ruling “recognizes that the State has shown there are good reasons to regulate gender reassignment procedures for minors.”
The office did not say whether it would attempt to appeal the ban before July 1. Provisions of the blocked law allow transgender youths to take transgender drugs until December 31 to stop.
A top state attorney told Hanlon during Wednesday’s court hearing that the risks from puberty sex-affirming treatments include future fertility, bone strength, Brain development and reversibility may not have been fully studied by scientists.
Such factors led the Legislature to decide “we don’t want our children to participate in this grand experiment,” Indiana Attorney General Thomas Fisher said.
Although guidelines from leading authorities on medical care by sex state that surgery should generally be reserved for adults only, with the exception of older adolescents who meet certain criteria, Indiana law calls for an immediate ban on transgender surgeries.
The provisions of the law banning sex determination surgery for minors in Indiana will not have an immediate effect. Hanlon wrote in his ruling that no health care provider in the state performs such procedures on people under the age of 18.
A representative from Indiana University’s Riley Medical Children’s Hospital, the state’s only hospital-based sex health program, told lawmakers earlier this year that for patients who are minors, underage, physicians do not perform genital surgery or provide referrals for such surgery. IU Health is not involved in the ACLU lawsuit.
