Criminal justice groups sue NC over law blocking gender-affirming care in prisons
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- ACLU and Emancipate NC sue North Carolina over ban on prison gender care.
- Lawsuit argues the funding ban violates the Eighth Amendment duty to provide care.
- Challenge targets law section barring state funds for hormones and surgeries.
Two advocacy groups are suing the state on behalf of incarcerated transgender people, challenging provisions in a law written by GOP lawmakers that bar the use of state funds for gender-affirming care for people in prison.
The lawsuit filed Friday by the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina and Emancipate NC argues that the provisions violate the Eighth Amendment, which bars excessive bail and fines and prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.
An ACLU news release says the amendment requires states to provide medically necessary care to individuals in their custody, and that failing to do so is cruel and unusual punishment.
The lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina in Charlotte also includes a class-action claim by five incarcerated plaintiffs who have gender dysphoria, defined as an incongruence between a person’s gender identity and the sex they were assigned at birth.
“Plaintiffs now face the imminent loss of essential health care,” the lawsuit says.
The class includes all current and future people in Department of Adult Corrections’ custody who have or will have gender dysphoria and who have been prescribed, or may require, cross-sex hormone therapy or gender-affirming surgery as treatment.
There has been previous litigation over the rights of transgender people in North Carolina prisons. An appeals court in April reversed a Wake County judge’s order allowing a transgender female inmate to be transferred to a women’s prison.
Defendants in the lawsuit are listed as Leslie Cooley Dismukes, the Secretary of DAC, and Arthur “Les” Campbell, the medical director for the department.
“This legislation is dangerous and harmful. Everyone deserves access to medically necessary care, including gender-affirming care, full stop,” said Jaclyn Maffetore, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of North Carolina, in a news release on the lawsuit.
“As long as our laws codify needless suffering for incarcerated people, our society won’t be able to recognize any human pain as truly valid and real,” said Elizabeth Simpson, strategic director and attorney for Emancipate NC, in the release.
Details on the law
House Bill 805, titled Prevent Sexual Exploitation/Women and Minors, initially created protections for people whose explicit images appear on pornography websites without their consent. That version passed unanimously in the state House and Senate, which are both controlled by Republicans.
Later additions to the bill divided lawmakers and led Democratic Gov. Josh Stein to veto the measure, The News & Observer previously reported. The veto was later overridden with support from one House Democrat.
The final law includes provisions stating that only two sexes exist and that gender identity is not treated the same as sex under state law. It also increases parental control over school library materials, allows religious exemptions from certain school activities, and restricts room-sharing by sex on school trips.
Sen. Buck Newton, a Wilson Republican, said at the time that the bill would send a message ensuring women know that they “exist and they are supported in North Carolina.”
“We cannot ignore biological realities,” Newton said.
The section being challenged in a lawsuit bans the use of state funds for gender-affirming care for incarcerated people. That provision took effect in July.
Specifically, the section bars the use of state funds for gender transition surgeries, puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones for anyone incarcerated in the state prison system, the Statewide Misdemeanor Confinement Program, or otherwise in the custody of the DAC. It also prohibits using state money to support any government health plan or government-offered insurance policy that covers gender-affirming care for incarcerated people.
