Sponsors (6)
The bill simplifies Bureau operations and reduces federal spending by enforcing biologically based sex classifications and barring BOP-paid gender‑affirming care, but does so at the likely expense of transgender and intersex prisoners' access to necessary medical care and personal safety, while shifting costs and legal burdens elsewhere.
Federal prisoners and BOP staff: placement and transport will be determined by a single, biologically based sex classification, simplifying placement decisions and reducing some administrative burden for Bureau operations.
Taxpayers and the federal budget: the BOP will no longer be required to pay for gender-affirming surgeries or cross‑sex hormones, reducing federal medical spending on those treatments.
Transgender incarcerated people: may be denied medically necessary gender-affirming hormones or surgeries, worsening mental and physical health outcomes for patients who were receiving or seeking that care.
Transgender and intersex inmates (and staff safety): placing and transporting people solely by 'biological sex' without full consideration of safety, medical history, or gender identity could increase risks of violence, isolation, or inappropriate placements.
Prisoners, families, and outside providers: prohibiting BOP payment for gender‑related care shifts costs away from the Bureau, potentially creating gaps in access, increasing out‑of‑pocket expenses, and prompting more litigation or external healthcare claims.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires the BOP to segregate prisoners by legally defined biological sex and bans BOP-funded gender-related medical treatments, with narrow medical exceptions.
Directs the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to house and transport people in federal prisons according to a defined "biological sex" classification (male/female) and prohibits the BOP from providing or paying for any "gender-related medical treatment" (examples listed: surgeries, exogenous hormones, puberty blockers). The bill defines terms (biological sex, male, female, gender, gender-related medical treatment), allows limited exceptions for certain disorders of sex development and ambiguous biological characteristics, and permits the BOP Director to identify additional treatments or exceptions.
Official title: To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for certain rules for housing or transportation based on gender and to provide for a limitation on gender-related medical treatment.
Introduced February 5, 2025 by Nancy Mace · Last progress February 5, 2025