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Iowa ACLU Files Lawsuit to Allow Transgender Surgery

DES MOINES, Iowa - A new lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union seeks to let transgender Iowans get gender-affirming surgery through Medicaid.

The suit calls for the reversal of an Iowa law allowing state and local governments to deny coverage for the surgery.

It was filed on behalf of Aiden Vasquez, who was denied coverage by the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) after his doctor recommended the surgery.

The lawsuit claims the Iowa law is unconstitutional because it intentionally discriminates against transgender Iowans.

The ACLU first won a case for the surgery in 2018.

Iowa lawmakers then changed the law so that organizations using public insurance money could opt out of covering transgender surgery.

A second lawsuit challenged that law, but was dismissed on procedural grounds because Vasquez and Mika Covington did not seek coverage from the Iowa DHS first.

Covington is expected to join the new lawsuit if her coverage is denied by the DHS.

In 2019, the Iowa Supreme Court found that Iowa’s law was discriminatory, but the decision fell short of declaring it a constitutional violation.


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