The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit last week in Dauphin County court against Penn State Health, Penn State Health St. Joseph, and the Pennsylvania State University on behalf of a 23-year-old resident of Palmyra.
The suit alleges that the health system cancelled a mastectomy for EJ Stiles in violation of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act and the equal protection, religious freedom, and Equal Rights Amendment provisions of the state constitution.
According to the suit, Stiles is nonbinary and began chest binding around 15 years old. The suit says that a Penn State Health physician diagnosed Stiles with gender dysphoria around October 2023 and recommended hormone replacement therapy and cognitive and mental health assistance. The physician deemed a mastectomy as medically necessary and referred Stiles to a Penn State Health plastic surgeon, the suit says, and that Stiles’ insurer preauthorized the procedure.
A mastectomy was scheduled at Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center for July 24, 2024. The suit alleges that Penn State Health’s scheduling department confirmed the surgery around 2 p.m. the day before, but then shortly before 5 p.m. on July 23, 2024, two executives with Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center called Stiles and said the surgery had been cancelled.
The suit alleges that Stiles was told the surgery had been cancelled because gender-affirming surgeries are not in alignment with directives of the Catholic Church.
Stiles later received a mastectomy on Oct. 4, 2024, at Penn State Health Hampden Medical Center.
The ACLU contends that because Penn State Health is funded in part by the state government, all the hospitals in its network are subject to the Equal Rights Amendment and the equal protection and religious freedom provisions of the Pennsylvania Constitution.
The suit seeks a declaration that Stiles’ rights were violated and an injunction against Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center from operating in accordance with Catholic directives, as well as compensatory damages and attorneys’ fees.
An earlier complaint by the ACLU filed with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission in January 2025 found that Penn State Health was covered under the state’s Religious Freedom Protection Act.
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