Indiana's Republican Gov. Mike Braun signed Senate Bill 143 into law Tuesday, adding a new article to the Indiana code titled "Parental Rights and Responsibilities" amid nationwide concerns that public school employees are withholding information from parents.
The measure, which passed the Republican-controlled Indiana Senate in a 44-5 vote and the Republican-controlled Indiana House of Representatives in a 69-24 vote, adds a new article to the Indiana code titled "Parental Rights and Responsibilities."
Votes in both chambers fell mainly along party lines, with most support coming from Republicans and most opposition coming from Democrats.
In the Senate, seven of the 10 Democrats joined Republicans to support the legislation, while only two voted against it. Three Republicans broke from their party to oppose the measure. In the House, only three Democrats supported the bill, while one Republican crossed party lines to oppose it.
The new language prohibits governmental entities from taking actions that "substantially burden" a parent's rights to direct the upbringing, religious instruction, education or healthcare of a child. The measure allows government entities to "substantially burden" parental rights only if "the burden, as applied to the parent and the child," is "required to advance a compelling governmental interest and is the least restrictive means of advancing the governmental interest."
Under the legislation, government actors are prohibited from taking actions to "advise, direct, or coerce a child to withhold information from the child's parent" and "deny a child's parent access to information that" deals with the student's "health care or social, emotional, and behavioral well-being."
The legislation provides a right of action for parents who feel their rights were violated to seek relief in court.
Jordan Carpenter, legal counsel for the religious freedom legal nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom, praised the bill's passage in a statement Wednesday, saying that parents "know and love their children best, and they have the right and duty to raise their children according to their own conscience."
"By passing SB 143, Indiana has joined the growing list of states protecting parents' fundamental rights to be informed about their child's well-being and make decisions regarding the child's education, health care, and more," Carpenter added." Carpenter praised the measure for safeguarding "the integrity of the parent-child relationship."
The enactment of Senate Bill 143 comes as school districts around the United States have faced lawsuits for allegedly allowing trans-identified students to "socially transition" without informing their parents.
In 2021, January Littlejohn sued the Leon County School District in Florida, alleging that the public school system colluded with her daughter "to deceive us so that we would never have known she was going by an alternate name."
In their communications with Littlejohn and her husband, school officials referred to the couple's daughter using her given name. However, they referred to the teenager at school using a male name and pronouns.
In 2023, the Chico Unified School District in California faced a similar lawsuit from parent Aurora Regino, who maintained that the school system referred to her daughter using a male name and pronouns for several weeks without her consent.
In Colorado, a bill that could result in parents losing custody of their children if they do not embrace their stated gender identity continues to advance in the Democrat-controlled legislature.
