ID SCR135

Adree Edmo, convicted in 2012 of sexual abuse of a child under age 16, is serving a 3 to 10 year sentence at the Idaho State Correctional Center and seeking state-funded gender reassignment surgery.

U.S. District Court ruled Idaho Department of Correction must provide the surgery, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision while denying the state's request for rehearing.

This would be the first instance of an inmate undergoing gender reassignment surgery while in Idaho Department of Correction custody.

The legislature expresses concern that providing the surgery at taxpayer expense would set an unreasonable precedent and could obligate the state to provide similar procedures in the future.

The legislature supports Governor Little and the Department of Correction in their opposition to the surgery and endorses any action the Governor takes to prevent it, including appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.