STATEHOUSE — Lawmakers are considering a bill in the State Senate that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender children in Indiana.
Senate Bill 480 would prohibit doctors from performing gender reassignment surgeries and prescribing hormone blockers or other similar treatments to children under 18 years old. In the last couple of weeks, many people for and against the bill have addressed state lawmakers.
Democrats have been opposed to the bill. They include State Sen. Shelley Yoder (D-Bloomington) who proposed an amendment to the bill on Monday that would have allowed doctors to perform the aforementioned treatments on trans kids if a parent and a notary give their consent.
“What I’m trying to do here is perhaps plead with you,” Yoder said to her fellow lawmakers. “We have put in place many times a notary to just sort of pump the brakes and have people really think about this, so let’s apply it here and make sure parents know the kind of care that they’re pursuing and the path they are pursuing with their child.”
The amendment was rejected.
Last week Luka Hine addressed the Senate Public Health Committee. She used to be transgender having had surgery in North Carolina when she was a child to become male. However, since then she has transitioned back to female and told lawmakers that she regrets putting her body through that.
“My vocal cords ache, my breasts are gone, and I will never know if I will be able to carry a child because there is a good possibility that I’m sterile,” she said. “(Children) cannot consent to the long-term impacts of these things and it is your job as the adults in this room to protect them from that.”
The bill got a third reading in the committee on Monday. A vote to send it to the full State Senate is expected soon.
