Lawmakers send gender-affirming care ban to governor’s desk
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — LGBTQ+ rights supporters threatened legal action Monday after lawmakers sent Gov. Eric Holcomb the first bill of the session targeting transgender youth.
The Indiana House voted along party lines Monday afternoon to approve Senate Bill 480, which bans hormone therapy, puberty blockers, or surgery for gender transition purposes for anyone under age 18.
If it becomes law, anyone undergoing such treatment would have until the end of this year to discontinue it. The House’s vote comes a month after the Senate gave the bill its approval.
The bill has drawn fierce opposition from supporters of LGBTQ+ rights. In two different committee hearings, parents of transgender youth said they will move out of the state if the bill becomes law, citing fear of their transgender children returning to a cycle of self-harm if they are cut off from gender transition care.
Rep. Chris Campell, D-West Lafayette, said, “This legislation violates the sacred relationship between a parent and a child. How can the state prohibit parents from securing medical treatment for their children to medically-accepted standards?”
Throughout the debate, the bill’s supporters cited the need to protect children from harmful effects of surgery and pointed to cases of people who underwent gender transition treatment but later regretted it.
“Many of the kids who were rushed down the path to transitioning have regrets and still live with the pain of their decisions. I want to do what’s right for kids,” House bill sponsor Rep. Joanna King, R-Middlebury, said.
Doctors from IU Riley Children’s Hospital told lawmakers during the public hearing stage they do not perform gender transition surgery on minors and globally-accepted standards of gender-affirming care do not condone it.
A 2015 survey of nearly 28,000 transgender adults conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality found that while some people do detransition, they accounted for a total of 8 percent of the population who responded to the survey.
Most cited pressure from parents or family as the reason they did so, while 5 percent of those who detransitioned, or 0.4 percent of the total transgender population, said they detransitioned because they no longer felt it was right for them.
Gov. Eric Holcomb has not yet publicly indicated where he stands on the bill. He will have seven days to act on the bill once it is formally presented to him.
If he vetoes it, lawmakers already have more than enough votes for the simple majority needed to override him. The ACLU said in a statement it will pursue legal action if the bill becomes law.