Court Orders State to Pay for Sex Offender’s Trans Surgery; Governor Refuses
Citing constitutional protections against inflicting “cruel and unusual punishments” on criminals, a panel of three judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday that the State of Idaho must pay for the male-to-female gender reassignment surgery of an inmate sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy. In response, Republican Gov. Brad Little vowed to make sure taxpayer money is not diverted to the sex offender’s surgery, particularly because the treating physician and multiple mental health professionals maintain that it is not medically necessary.
The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution states that “[e]xcessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” on criminals. That amendment, a three-judge panel ruled Friday, requires the State of Idaho to pay for the $20,000 to $30,0000 sex reassignment surgery for Adree Edmo, a biological male convicted of sexually abusing a 15-year-old at the age of 22 and who claims to identify as a female.
Edmo began serving time in a male prison in 2012. In 2017, Edmo sued the state, claiming the state’s refusal to pay for the controversial and costly surgery was “cruel and unusual punishment.”
Last December, Federal District Judge B. Lynn Winmill sided with Edmo, ruling that the state should fund the surgery, a ruling the state appealed. On Friday, the panel agreed with Winmill, concluding that prison officials were “deliberately indifferent to Edmo’s gender dysphoria, in violation of the Eighth Amendment,” as reported by Boise State Public Radio. Prison officials, the panel wrote, have not provided for what the judges say are Edmo’s “medical needs” due to the “extreme suffering” caused by gender dysphoria.
Edmo, who is due for release in early 2021, has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a condition in which a person identifies as the opposite of his or her biogical sex. NPR notes that Edmo reportedly twice attempted “self-castration.” (Read more from “Court Orders State to Pay for Sex Offender’s Trans Surgery; Governor Refuses” HERE)
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