Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana’s Legislature trampled on the rights of young transgender patients and their parents with a new law aiming to ban them from accessing puberty blockers, hormones and gender-transition surgeries, an attorney told a federal judge Wednesday.
A federal judge in Indianapolis made no immediate ruling after hearing about 90 minutes of arguments from the Indiana attorney general’s office and the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, which is seeking a preliminary injunction that would stop the law from taking effect July 1. The group filed its lawsuit, on behalf of four transgender patients and an Indiana doctor who provides transgender medical treatment, within hours after Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb signed the bill April 5.
The lawsuit says the ban violates the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection guarantees as well as federal laws regarding essential medical services, and wrongly prohibits Indiana doctors from communicating with out-of-state doctors about gender-transition care for their patients younger than 18.
Ken Falk, the ACLU of Indiana’s legal director, argued that the law interferes with what major medical organizations endorse as proper treatments for young people diagnosed with “gender dysphoria,″ or distress caused when gender identity doesn’t match a person’s assigned sex.
“We think this is a clear violation of parental rights,” Falk told U.S. District Court Judge James Patrick Hanlon.
Indiana’s ban was enacted amid a national push by Republican-led legislatures to curb LGBTQ+ rights. At least 20 states have now enacted laws restricting or banning gender-transition medical care for transgender minors after Missouri’s governor signed that state’s bill into law last week.
Indiana’s Republican-dominated Legislature approved the ban this spring after contentious hearings that primarily featured testimony from vocal opponents, with many arguing the gender-transition care lessened the risk of depression and suicide among transgender youth.
Experts say allowing children to express their gender in a way that matches their identity is beneficial. Transgender medical treatment for youths, such as puberty blockers — fully reversible prescription medication — has been available in the United States for more than a decade. Research suggests that transgender youth and adults are prone to stress, depression and suicidal thoughts, and the evidence is mixed on whether treatment with hormones or surgery resolves those issues.
Guidelines from leading authorities on gender-transition medical care say surgery generally should be reserved for adults, with exceptions for older teens who meet certain criteria.
Bill sponsor Republican Rep. Joanna King of Middlebury said the ban would “protect our children from irreversible, harmful, life-altering procedures.”
A top attorney for the state told Hanlon that risks from gender-transition treatments during puberty such as future fertility, bone strength, brain development and possible reversibility had not been adequately studied by scientists.
Such factors make it within the state Legislature’s authority to decide “we don’t want our children to be part of this grand experiment,” Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher said.
“This is a matter of regulatory judgement,” Fisher said.
Lawsuits have been filed in several states against transgender treatment bans. Federal judges have blocked enforcement of laws in Alabama and Arkansas, and Oklahoma has agreed to not enforce its ban while opponents seek a temporary court order blocking it.
The Indiana law would immediately ban gender-transition surgeries while trans youth taking medication to transition would have until Dec. 31 to stop. Doctors who violate the ban could be disciplined by the state medical licensing board.
Hanlon, a former President Donald Trump appointee, acknowledged the law was set to take effect soon but didn’t specify a timing to release his decision. Hanlon in 2021 issued an order blocking an Indiana law that would have required doctors to tell women undergoing drug-induced abortions about a disputed treatment for potentially stopping the abortion process.
Falk, the ACLU’s attorney, said it was “vitally important” for the judge to put the law on hold as it threatens the treatment for hundreds of young people across Indiana.
“People are talking about moving out of the state,” Falk said after the hearing. “People are desperate to try and get care.”
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
More and more countries are backing away from so-called gender affirming care because there is no evidence it is beneficial, yet political zealots in the US are full steam ahead on inflicting lifelong physical problems on kids to address a mental issue. It’s barbaric and like lobotomies will be viewed in the future as one of the most unethical medical interventions in our history, but organizations like the ACLU and other advocates will never be held responsible for the damage they are causing.
Comparing treatment to lobotomy? Seriously? That’s not true at all. How about this: we keep the legislature out of medical issues like this. Here’s what doctors said, two years ago when this Trumpian ban started getting steam. When your medical experience and credentials match the AMA’s, go ahead and weigh in again.
https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-reinforces-opposition-restrictions-transgender-medical-care
How is it not like a lobotomy, Rick? Virtually everything being included in the ban is either somewhat or completely irreversible.
Even Mayo Clinic, largely pro-gender affirming care (to the point of censuring Dr. Michael Joyner for daring to assert the affects of testosterone on female athletes). Remember way back in 2016, when doping was cheating?
Just a reminder of who you’re talking to. We’re very stupid and can’t handle big words. Because of our stupidity, we don’t trust the wise experts at the AMA, who are beyond reproach and can absolutely never get compromised by either money or fear of reputation destruction. Their “medical experience and credentials” are what we should use to give them divine authority. I mean, it worked so well for the NIH, CDC, and FDA with those essential vaccines that totally stopped people from getting COVID.
So…talk simple to us chuckleheads and explain why a hormone replacement therapy and amputation are good for children who aren’t old enough to drink, vote, or, in many cases, drive or file taxes. I don’t have an MD so I should know my place and shut up.
How is it not like a lobotomy, Rick? Virtually everything being included in the ban is either somewhat or completely irreversible.
Even Mayo Clinic, largely pro-gender affirming care (to the point of censuring Dr. Michael Joyner for daring to assert the affects of testosterone on female athletes) recognizes that puberty blockers may cause infertility. Regarding hormone replacement, hasn’t it largely been abandoned except for “gender affirming care” because of the elevated risk of cancer? And remember way back in 2016, when doping was cheating?
Just a reminder of who you’re talking to. We’re very stupid and can’t handle big words. Because of our stupidity, we don’t trust the wise experts at the AMA, who are beyond reproach and can absolutely never get compromised by either money or fear of reputation destruction. Their “medical experience and credentials” are what we should use to give them divine authority. I mean, it worked so well for the NIH, CDC, and FDA with those essential vaccines that totally stopped people from getting COVID.
So…talk simple to us chuckleheads and explain why a hormone replacement therapy and amputation are good for children who aren’t old enough to drink, vote, or, in many cases, drive or file taxes. I don’t have an MD so I should know my place and shut up.
Well, first of all, Lauren, I’m smart enough not to post twice.
Secondly, “amputation” isn’t the correct medical term.
Thirdly–are you aware there are transgender folks who are female-to-male? And non-binary folks? I know it’s less of a hyperbole sweet spot for you, but both those situations exist.
And lastly: again, until you can match the medical expertise of those I linked, maybe you should———-> park it.
Hi Rick! I posted twice because the first time it didn’t capture a sentence that I had completed, and there’s no edit tool. If that makes me “not smart”, then I think that’s a cross I’m willing to bear.
“Thirdly–are you aware there are transgender folks who are female-to-male?” Why yes, Rick, they are now the overwhelming majority. Adolescent girls are particularly susceptible to mass formation and groupthink. When I was young, we were barely talking about anorexia but Karen Carpenter certainly helped bring attention to what was then an unfamiliar disease. But the issue grew more pronounced rather than less–I can certainly see indicators now that I might have been a “risk group”, and that same demographic are the ones who suffer ROGD (Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria) today. Let’s affirm them! Great idea. And prescribe diet pills for all the teenaged anorexia sufferers.
What is a mastectomy other than an amputation? Aside from it not “being the correct medical term”, that’s a distinction without a difference.
As for “nonbinary”, well, there are people who think they are faeries and druids. My nephew was convinced for 3 whole months (a staggeringly long time for a 6-year-old) that he was a raccoon. That doesn’t make it such thing. But if you want to appease the mentally ill, or those who are desperate for attention (or both), that’s on you. Don’t push your pathologies on me.
Nonbinary is a marvelous “do not hire” signal. Nothing more.
They aren’t old enough to buy cigarettes, a gun or liquor; not old enough to vote, sign up for the military or live independently. What on earth qualifies them to make a decision like changing their gender??!! Experts will tell you a brain isn’t completely mature until a person’s mid to late 20’s. Let them mature and figure themselves out. Then if they want to change their gender at a minimum age of 25ish totally their choice.