Court orders that plaintiff be provided with gender-affirming surgery at the earliest opportunity
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 18, 2024
INDIANAPOLIS – Today, United States District Court Judge Richard Young granted the ACLU of Indiana a preliminary injunction in its case representing Autumn Cordellioné, a transgender woman currently in the custody of the Indiana Department of Correction (DOC). Ms. Cordellioné sued the state after the DOC’s denial of gender affirming surgery.
The ACLU of Indiana argued in court earlier this year that Indiana’s law banning gender-affirming surgery in prisons, passed in 2023, violates the Eighth Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The court agreed that Ms. Cordellioné and the ACLU of Indiana established that gender-confirming surgery is a medically necessary treatment option for some individuals with gender dysphoria. The Judge issued an order that the DOC must provide Ms. Cordellioné with gender-affirming surgery at the earliest opportunity.
The US Constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment imposes a duty on the states "to provide adequate medical care to incarcerated individuals.”
A statement from ACLU of Indiana Legal Director Ken Falk:
“Today marks a significant victory for transgender individuals in Indiana’s prisons. Denying evidence-based medical care to incarcerated people simply because they are transgender is unconstitutional. We are pleased that the Court agreed.”
The preliminary injunction is available here.
