New Missouri law will force trans inmates to detransition

Missouri has enacted a new law restricting access to gender-affirming health care for incarcerated transgender people. This would result in significant changes to how the state Department of Corrections is authorized to provide medical care, resulting in forced deportation of transgender inmates.

HB 2009The law, signed by Gov. Mike Kehoe on June 30, prohibits the use of state funds for hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgery for the purpose of gender transition.

The move comes after years of legal and policy changes surrounding transgender medical care in Missouri prisons. In 2018, the federal court in Hicklin v. Precise ruled that blanket denial of hormone therapy violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment and established requirements for individualized medical care in some cases. However, this ruling did not apply to gender reassignment surgery, and Missouri later restricted the procedure with a separate law in 2023.

According to reports transit Via Substack, the new provision was added to a broad corrections funding bill sponsored by state Rep. Dirk Deaton. During the debate on the House floor, Deaton cited the changing legal and political landscape surrounding transgender health care and argued that lawmakers should decide how state funds are spent on health care in correctional settings.

“Because, remember… these are people who have been sentenced for a crime. They have been convicted of a crime and sentenced to prison. They are incarcerated with taxpayer money, and their room and board and medical care is also paid 100 percent by taxpayers. And what is adequate medical care under those circumstances? That’s what this speaks to,” Deaton told the full House in March.

Under the new law, the Department of Corrections will be required to discontinue state-funded gender reassignment-related treatment, impacting inmates currently receiving hormone therapy and those seeking to begin treatment while in custody.

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