Prisoners have no constitutional right to sex-change surgeries, Drummond tells court

OKLAHOMA CITY (April 9, 2025) – Attorney General Gentner Drummond is asking a U.S. District Court to uphold President Trump’s executive order prohibiting inmates in federal prisons and immigration detention centers from obtaining taxpayer-funded sex-change procedures. The order also requires biological males to be housed in men’s correctional facilities.

Drummond and 23 other state attorneys general filed an amicus brief last week.

“Nothing in the Constitution gives inmates the right to demand all manner of medical interventions they wish,” Drummond said. “The law leaves policy choices to policymakers.”

The coalition argues that federal and state authorities are operating well within the boundaries of the U.S. Constitution when they deny inmates’ requests for sex-change surgeries or hormone treatments.

President Trump’s executive order,  titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” is directed toward federal inmates claiming to experience gender dysphoria. 

Also signing the brief are the attorneys general of Idaho, Indiana, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.