1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

Block the Trump administration's attempt to strip gender-affirming care from federal prisoners. The Supreme Court should not freeze Judge Lamberth's order, and elected officials must make clear that denying medically necessary treatment to incarcerated people is unconstitutional. Hormone therapy is not elective. The Bureau of Prisons itself does not dispute that untreated gender dysphoria causes depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. More than 600 inmates currently depend on hormone treatment that the administration wants to cut off overnight. Withholding a medication that prevents those outcomes, simply because of politics, is cruel and unusual punishment. The ACLU is right. This policy does not just harm transgender people. It sets a precedent that the government can deny any medically established treatment to prisoners when an executive order calls it inconvenient. I expect my elected officials to stand against that precedent loudly and on the record.