STATEHOUSE — A bill that would ban doctors from prescribing hormone therapy and puberty blockers to transgender kids in Indiana has passed the Indiana Senate.
Senators took the bill up immediately after it cleared the Senate Public Health committee just the day before. Lawmakers engaged in impassioned debate from both sides of the issue on Tuesday. Most Republicans agree that kids are not able to adequately decide for themselves when it comes to switching their gender.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Tyler Johnson, R-Leo, who is also a licensed medical doctor, said he wants to prevent permanent damage to young kids.
“Given the pressures put on parents, the irreversible nature of these procedures, and the unknown long-term effects, there is no such thing as ‘informed consent,” said State Sen. Tyler Johnson (R-Leo).
Democrats voted against the measure, many of them saying that it would be more harmful to transgender children to deny them gender-affirming care. Gender-affirming care is when doctors treat transgender patients as the gender they identify with, even if that patient is still biologically the opposite sex.
“It would cause far less harm for these kids to wait, get the counseling they need, and then make these life-altering decisions as adults,” Johnson added.
The bill sets the threshold for consent to gender-affirming care at 18 years old. If the bill becomes law it would make it illegal for doctors to give such care to trans children.
The measure is now in the Indiana House for consideration.
