The Georgia Senate adopted a measure Monday that prohibits the state from providing medical care to inmates seeking to change their sex.
Senate Bill 185 passed 37-15, with support from a handful of Democrats. No Republican voted against it.
The Georgia Department of Corrections must provide medical care to inmates, but Sen. Randy Robertson, R-Cataula, the chief sponsor of the measure, said there should be limits.
SB 185 “says that we will not do surgery to change someone’s sex,” he said.
The legislation would also prohibit hormone replacement therapy, which Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, said was “cruel and unnecessary.”
Parent said she agreed that taxpayers should not have to pay for gender-change surgery for prisoners, but she offered an amendment to allow inmates to continue with hormone replacement therapy they were taking prior to incarceration.
Her amendment failed. She was among four Democrats to then vote for SB 185 along with Republicans, illustrating the political challenge highlighted by one Republican, Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell. He said before the vote that to oppose the measure would be to demonstrate concern for convicts over victims. “If you vote against this bill, you are politically tone deaf,” he said.
Transgender people are a fraction of the population yet have been the subject of numerous bills this year. In prior weeks, the Senate and House of Representatives each adopted their own version of legislation that would prevent transgender student athletes born male from competing against females.
Earlier in the day on Monday, the Senate adopted a measure that would strip doctors and hospitals of their medical licenses if they administered puberty blockers to minors. Puberty blockers are hormone suppressants commonly used by youths who want to change their gender.
Sen. Nikki Merritt, D-Grayson, said Republicans were attempting to score political points by picking on marginalized people.
“I believe this is what, the fourth or fifth trans bill we’ve seen this session,” she said. “We get it. You hate trans people.” She didn’t participate in the votes for the amendment or the bill itself.
Sen. Kim Jackson, D-Stone Mountain, said the state gives medical care to inmates who injure themselves while committing a crime because it’s a moral obligation. Inexpensive hormone pills are no different, she said. She urged her colleagues to oppose SB 185 “as a commitment to your humanity” before she voted against it herself.
SB 185 now goes to the Georgia House of Representatives.