So there’s a Trump ad airing about how Kamala Harris supports taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners, something that she campaigned on in 2019 for her bid to run for president, which obviously never happened. Her 2024 campaign hasn’t really campaigned on this issue, but it’s worth mentioning that the Trump administration actually did what they’re accusing Kamala Harris of doing. Without paraphrasing, here’s an explanation from PolitiFact:

Federal law requires inmates to receive access to necessary medical care, and courts have found that this can include medically necessary gender-affirming surgery. Legal obligations to provide this care were also acknowledged by the Federal Bureau of Prisons under the Trump administration. Any efforts to categorically eliminate access to gender-affirming surgical care would likely face legal challenges. The Bureau of Prisons’ policy under the Biden administration lets prisoners request gender-affirming surgery, but just two federal prisoners have successfully accessed these procedures and only after multiyear legal challenges, the first in 2022.

Uh, so yeah, it’s a legal requirement that even the Trump administration had to follow. Despite this, only 2 prisoners have accessed these procedures, which is close to practically nothing in the grand scheme of things. Other than prisoners, Trump’s ad(s) have additionally claimed that Kamala Harris has done the same for illegal immigrants, but there are no records or evidence of such, but even that is a medical necessity too. At the end of the day, people, regardless of who they are or where they are, will be entitled to whatever is considered medically necessary. There’s plenty of information to put your mind at ease if the thought of prisoners (that actually did) getting medical care related to gender-affirming stuff sounded controversial.

Information/Sources: NY Times, PolitiFact

Leave a Reply