Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Proposed bill would ban gender-affirming health care for trans prisoners in Utah

A tall barbed wire fence around a blocky prison complex and an outdoor track. The ground is covered in snow.
Francisco Kjolseth
/
The Salt Lake Tribune
The Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023.

Nearly a year after the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Utah alleging the state discriminated against a transgender woman incarcerated at the state prison by providing inadequate and delayed medical care, lawmakers are weighing cutting off access to gender-affirming care altogether.

A bill from House Majority Whip Karianne Lisonbee would, among other things, stop incarcerated transgender people from transitioning by barring them from starting hormone treatments or pursuing gender-affirmation surgery. People who enter custody receiving hormone therapy would be able to continue that care.

Transgender State Custody Amendments,” or HB252, passed out of the House Judiciary Committee after a party-line vote on Friday, and is now being considered by the full House.

“Correctional facilities are a fundamentally unsuitable environment for inmates to make potentially permanent medical decisions such as hormone therapy or surgeries, especially at taxpayer expense,” Lisonbee, a Clearfield Republican, argued in front of the committee.

Salt Lake City Rep. Grant Miller, one of the two Democrats on the committee opposing the bill, said before voting, “I do believe that this is fundamentally a health care issue, and I’m worried about potential litigation that can grow out of the lack of health care access.”

For more on the bill and federal lawsuits, read this story at sltrib.com.

This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.