Transgender prisoners in US jails are having their hormone treatment stopped under an order from President Donald Trump’s administration.
Guidance issued by the Federal Bureau of Prisons in February bars the agency from starting hormone therapy for prisoners who are not already receiving it, and instructs doctors to develop ‘tapering plans’ to gradually withdraw it from those already on it.
The policy will also prevent prisons from providing gender-affirming surgery. Transgender prisoners will no longer be supported with resources including wigs, makeup, breast padding, chest binders, and underwear not designed for their biological sex.
It follows an executive order issued by Trump last year, days after he started his second term in office, barring all Americans from having gender-affirming hormone therapy paid for out of federal funds.
Prison reform campaigners criticised the approach. Jesse Lerner-Kinglake, communications director at Just Detention International, told the LGBTQ+ website The Advocate: “The devastating health effects of discontinuing hormone therapy for incarcerated transgender people are well-documented. People will suffer, just so that this administration can carry out its anti-trans agenda.”
The policy affects the 150,000 people detained in US federal prisons. Most US prisoners are held in state prisons or jails, which can set their own policies.
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