Statewide Iowa — (RI) — The ACLU of Iowa has filed a lawsuit to block implementation of a new Iowa law that bans Medicaid from paying for transgender surgery.
ACLU attorney Rita Bettis-Austen made the announcement Friday.
The law was passed after an Iowa Supreme Court upheld a district court ruling that the ban violates the Iowa Civil Rights Act. Bettis-Austen says they are asking the Supreme Court to take the ruling one step further in this new case.
Bettis-Austen says they are also raising the issue that this is a case of “log rolling” where she says it was quickly pushed through in the Health and Human Services funding bill.
This case involves two people who were set to have transgender surgery in September.
