Indiana’s Attorney General appeared to signal his opposition to a court order to provide gender-affirming surgery for a state inmate. (Getty Images)
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita appears to have signaled his defiance to a court order that would compel the Indiana Department of Correction to provide gender-affirming surgery for a transgender inmate.
“Convicted murderers don’t get to demand that taxpayers foot the bill for expensive and controversial sex-change operations. It lacks common sense. We won’t stop defending our state’s ban on using taxpayer funds to provide sex-change surgeries to prisoners,” Rokita wrote on X Tuesday.
Convicted murderers don’t get to demand that taxpayers foot the bill for expensive and controversial sex-change operations. It lacks all common sense. We won’t stop defending our state’s ban on using taxpayer funds to provide sex-change surgeries to prisoners. https://t.co/mPjC4fWRRO
— AG Todd Rokita (@AGToddRokita) March 11, 2025
Rokita’s post comes on the heels of a court ruling last week extending a September preliminary injunction that blocked a state law prohibiting gender-affirming surgeries for transgender inmates.
On March 5, U.S. District Court Judge Richard L. Young again ordered that the department secure gender-affirming surgery for Autumn Cordellioné.
Young said Cordellioné “has demonstrated a reasonable likelihood of success on the merits of her Eighth Amendment claim that Indiana (law) … — which bans gender-affirming surgery for transgender inmates — is unconstitutional.”
“Specifically, Ms. Cordellioné has shown that her gender dysphoria is a serious medical need and that, despite other treatments Defendant has provided her to treat her gender dysphoria, she requires gender-affirming surgery to prevent a risk of serious bodily and psychological harm,” Young continued.
Not providing such “necessary medical care to address a serious medical need” could be a violation of Cordellioné’s Eighth Amendment right protecting her from cruel or unusual punishment.
At the core of the case is a 2023 law that prohibits spending any state or federal funds on gender-affirming surgery for transgender inmates.
Since the September motion, the state has repeatedly appealed court rulings ordering Indiana to secure gender-affirming surgery for Cordellioné. In that time, the court also ordered a mental health evaluation after finding Cordellioné to be “in controversy.”
A February status report indicated that a doctor with Indiana University declined to perform Cordellioné’s surgery and that the department would find an out-of-state provider in order to comply.
Court documents have chronicled Cordellioné’s history of self-harm and suicide attempts, including attempts to remove her genitals. Cordellioné, who has received hormonal therapy since 2020, is currently being held at New Castle Correctional Facility, a male prison.
Cordellioné was sentenced for murdering her stepdaughter in 2002, with the earliest possible release date being Dec. 29, 2025.
gov.uscourts.insd.209485.158.0
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