The House Courts and Criminal Code Committee heard HB 1569 restrictions on DOC provision of gender therapy authored by Rep. Mayfield and Rep. King. The bill prohibits the department of correction from authorizing the payment of any money, the use of any state resources, or the payment of any federal money administered by the state to provide or facilitate the provision of hormonal therapy or sexual reassignment surgery to an offender patient.
Rep. Mayfield introduced the bill explaining that there are currently no financial restrictions on offender requests for gender therapy while incarcerated with DOC. An amendment was adopted by consent to remove the prohibition on the use of hormone replacement therapy and more specifically define what sex reassignment surgery is for the purposes of this bill.
Testimony in support of the bill was heard from the Office of the Attorney General and a family physician. Testimony in opposition to the was heard from the Indiana Public Defender Council, ACLU Indiana, and Equity Indiana. The amended bill passed 10-3.
Read the bill at: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2023/bills/house/1569