Good evening and welcome to Kentucky Edition on this Thursday.

It is February the 13th, the day before Valentine's Day.

I'm Rene Shaw.

Thank you so much for joining us tonight.

Transgender inmates are the subject of legislation advancing in the state legislature today as a committee okayed a bill to keep public dollars from funding their gender affirming medical care.

Our June Lefler has more.

As we began tonight's legislative update.

The Senate majority whip, Warren County Senator Mike Wilson, presented Senate Bill two today.

It bill just basically states that if you're incarcerated, you're not entitled to have cross-sex hormones or a sex change operation to change your sex from one to another, male to female, female to male.

Kentucky's Justice and Public Safety cabinet last month said 67 inmates in state custody received hormone gender affirming care.

Hundreds more inmates receive hormone therapy for menopause or other medical reasons.

And the cabinet says it does not offer sex reassignment surgeries.

Of that 67 number.

Is it not true that all of those have been medically prescribed by licensed physician?

Senator, I would say they have to be prescribed by a physician, but just like they I ozempic or anything else, that is something that is people want them to have.

They want to have it.

They get their doctor to prescribe it.

It's not medically necessary.

And Medicaid says it's not medically necessary.

The American Medical Association says it is necessary care.

So does it.

Kentuckian who had to go without her hormone therapy in an Indiana jail.

Those weeks without medical treatment were an absolute nightmare.

Suddenly, my body and mind began to change and I had a rapid decrease in body fat and other physical side effects that triggered extreme gender dysphoria, body dysmorphia and mental anguish.

I suddenly became weak and lethargic.

I spent most of my time in my bunk asleep.

I didn't have a clear head and my mind felt numb.

My depression became so severe that I contemplated suicide.

The measure was approved in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

One Republican passed on the measure.

I think the intent of this bill is not to have the state pay for operations that are elective while people are in prison.

I don't think the intent of the bill is to deny medical treatment that they're already receiving, and I need clarification that that does not stop that.

The two Democrats voted no.

When it's medically necessary that it should be prescribed and should be carried out.

I'm not going to put myself in the place of a doctor.

We can't even discuss minimum wage here in this body.

We're not paying people enough to do that.

And yet our second priority is that we want to deny 67 people medically necessary treatment.

In my mind, that's a distortion of priorities.

Senate Bill two now heads to a floor vote.

House Bill five in the lower chamber also seeks to remove that care.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm June Leffler.