California taxpayers are footing the bill for gender surgeries for prisoners, with the state spending over $4 million on life-altering procedures for 157 inmates since 2017. The records, reported on by The Washington Free Beacon, reveal that California is the first state to pay for prisoners to undergo surgeries to present as the opposite sex.
Since the start of the program in 2017, California has spent $2.5 million on vaginoplasties and hundreds of thousands of dollars on other transgender procedures, such as fake breasts, laser hair removal, and facial feminization. Shockingly, four of the inmates benefiting from this taxpayer-funded program are convicted murderers on death row, although no executions have been carried out in the state for over 17 years due to a moratorium put in place by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2019.
While some may argue that inmates, regardless of their crimes, have the right to medical care, attorney Harmeet Dhillon disagrees. “People who think they’re transgender have rights, and they should be treated with dignity and respect, but it does not include taxpayer dollars being used to do surgeries that are experimental at best and scientifically unjustified at worst,” Dhillon told the Free Beacon.
According to the records reviewed, 35 male prisoners received artificial vaginas and vulvas, which cost taxpayers $2.5 million, while 11 male prisoners received breast implants, costing more than $180,000. On the other hand, 40 female inmates had their breasts removed, totaling over $1 million in costs for the state.
The California Department of Corrections claims to approve gender surgeries on a case-by-case basis, but there are no limitations on the types of procedures an inmate can receive. As of early 2023, the department had received over 1,000 requests for “gender-affirming” surgeries since 2017.
California Has Spent Over $4M In Taxpayer Dollars On Gender Surgeries For Prisoners: Report https://t.co/NVDRKOOzNG What a waste of taxpayer $$$.
— Keith Holcomb (@frreo54) November 6, 2023
This significant increase in requests has also resulted in an alarming 234% spike in the number of trans-identifying prisoners since 2017, according to Cal Matters. In fact, earlier this year, a male triple murderer was transferred to a women’s prison after identifying as female.
This trend of male inmates identifying as transgender and gaining access to women’s prisons has caused numerous problems for California. In 2021, a women’s rights group filed a lawsuit after several female inmates reported being sexually assaulted by male inmates who identified as transgender or nonbinary, as reported by The Sacramento Bee.
California is not the only state using taxpayer dollars to fund gender surgeries for prisoners. Pennsylvania and Massachusetts have also spent millions of dollars on life-altering procedures for children since 2015.
Critics of these taxpayer-funded surgeries argue that the procedures are experimental and scientifically unjustified, not to mention the moral and ethical concerns surrounding using public funds for elective surgeries. As the debate on this controversial issue continues, the taxpayers of California are left to foot the bill for these costly and potentially lifelong consequences.