Idaho Governor Refuses To Pay For Transgender Sex Offender’s “Transition Surgery”

Fox News has more on this absurd ruling and Gov. Little's appeal of it:

Idaho’s Republican governor vowed Friday that his state would not pay for the gender reassignment surgery of a convicted sex offender after an appeals court ruled the state was responsible for providing the $20,000 to $30,000 procedure.

In its ruling, the court cited the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. 

Gov. Brad Little, who appealed the initial ruling in December, called the appeals court’s decision ‘extremely disappointing” and said the state would appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, Boise State Public Radio reported.

"We cannot divert critical public dollars away from the higher priorities of keeping the public safe and rehabilitating offenders," Little said in a statement to National Public Radio. 

"The hardworking taxpayers of Idaho should not be forced to pay for a convicted sex offender's gender reassignment surgery when it is contrary to the medical opinions of the treating physician and multiple mental health professionals."

On Friday, a panel of three judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Federal District Judge B. Lynn Winmill’s December ruling in favor of inmate Adree Edmo, who is serving a 10-year sentence for sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy at the age of 22. 

Edmo was diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a condition that causes distress in patients whose biological sex does not match the gender by which they identify, Boise State Public Radio reported. The inmate, who was born a male but identifies as female, tried to castrate herself twice in prison. 

Edmo’s lead attorney, Lori Rifkin, said her client “suffers every single day while they have denied this treatment to her for years and there can be no reason justifying Idaho's continued refusal to provide her care except bias."

Idaho Statesman also stated:

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ruled that the state of Idaho must provide gender confirmation surgery for transgender prison inmates.

                                                                                                

The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by Adree Edmo, 31, an inmate who was born male but identifies as a woman.

                                                                                                

Edmo is incarcerated at the Idaho State Correctional Center, a 2,166-bed men’s prison south of Boise. Edmo is serving a sentence of three to 10 years for sexual abuse of a child under 16 in Bannock County.

                                                                                                

In 2017, Edmo sued the Idaho Department of Correction and its medical provider, Corizon, contending that the state’s refusal to provide her with gender confirmation surgery amounts to cruel and unusual punishment and causes severe distress because she has gender dysphoria. The condition occurs when the incongruity between a person’s assigned gender and their gender identity is so drastic that it impairs their ability to function.

                                                                                                                                                    

U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled in Edmo’s favor and ordered the state to provide the surgery. The state appealed to the 9th Circuit.

                                                                                                                                                                            

In its Friday ruling, the 9th Circuit concurred with Winmill that denying Edmo the surgery amounted to cruel and unusual punishment, a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

                                                                                                

“We apply the dictates of the Eighth Amendment today in an area of increased social awareness: transgender health care,” concluded the appeals panel in its 85-page opinion. “We are not the first to speak on the subject, nor will we be the last. Our court and others have been considering Eighth Amendment claims brought by transgender prisoners for decades. During that time, the medical community’s understanding of what treatments are safe and medically necessary to treat gender dysphoria has changed as more information becomes available, research is undertaken, and experience is gained.”