Indiana Gov. Holcomb signed HB1569, barring state funds for gender-affirming surgery for incarcerated people

On April 20, 2023, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed House Enrolled Act 1569 (HB1569) into law, adding a new section, Indiana Code 11-10-3-3.5, to the state's correctional statutes. The provision bars the Indiana Department of Correction from authorizing the use of state or federal funds to provide or facilitate gender-affirming surgery — described in the statute as "sexual reassignment surgery" — for people in its custody, even when a medical provider recommends the procedure.

The bill, authored by Rep. Peggy Mayfield and passed by the Indiana General Assembly on votes of 67-27 in the House and 38-9 in the Senate, left access to hormone therapy in place while singling out surgery for transgender inmates. The law took effect July 1, 2023, and did not apply to any inmate whose surgery had already been approved before that date. The Indiana Capital Chronicle reported that the measure restricted the Department of Correction from paying for a reassignment surgery even where recommended by a medical provider, and the Human Rights Campaign condemned the signing as a ban on medically necessary care for incarcerated Hoosiers.

Updates

2024-09-17 — Federal court preliminarily enjoined the ban as likely unconstitutional [5, 6]

In Cordellione v. Commissioner, Indiana Department of Correction (3:23-cv-00135), U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young of the Southern District of Indiana granted a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of Indiana Code 11-10-3-3.5 against the plaintiff, finding the ban likely violated the Eighth Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. The court ordered the Department of Correction to take all reasonable actions to secure the plaintiff gender-affirming surgery at the earliest opportunity.

2025-03-05 — Federal court renewed injunction, ordered DOC to secure surgery [7, 8]

Judge Young extended the preliminary injunction, rejecting a psychological evaluation the Department of Correction had offered as grounds to reconsider it and again ordering the department to take all reasonable steps to secure Cordellione's gender-affirming surgery at the earliest opportunity, with the injunction set to renew every 90 days until the surgery is completed. Indiana Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith said the department "needs to ignore this ruling," while Attorney General Todd Rokita vowed to keep defending the funding ban and legislative leaders said the state should not ignore the court's order.