Court: Idaho must give transgender inmate gender surgery

BOISE, Idaho (AP) _ Idaho must provide gender confirmation surgery to a transgender inmate living as a woman for years but who has continuously been housed in a men's prison, a federal appeals court said Friday.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a federal judge in Idaho that the state's denying the surgery for 31-year-old Adree Edmo amounted to cruel and unusual punishment, a violation of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Under the ruling, Edmo would become the first Idaho inmate to receive gender confirmation surgery while in Idaho Department of Correction custody.

“This is a complete win for Ms. Edmo,'' said her attorney, Lori Rifkin. “Our client is immensely relieved and grateful that the court recognized her basic right to medical treatment.''

Republican Gov. Brad Little said he planned to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The court's decision is extremely disappointing,'' he said in a statement. “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.''

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