A case involving a transgender prisoner at the Idaho Department of Correction is headed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

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In December, Federal Judge Lynn Winmill ruled the Idaho Department of Correction must provide gender reassignment surgery to an inmate. In his ruling, Winmill said the state was endangering her life by not providing the surgery. Adree Edmo was born with the anatomy of a male but identifies as female. She has been incarcerated in the men’s prison south of Boise, and would be the first Idaho inmate to receive the procedure.

Gov. Brad Little announced Wednesday that the state will appeal the ruling. In a statement, he says the gender reassignment surgery should not be paid for by taxpayers when “individual insurance plans won’t even cover it.”

The state had 60 days to file the appeal.

Find reporter Frankie Barnhill on Twitter @FABarnhill

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