Mass. Lawmakers "Greatly Troubled" By Judge's Sex Change Ruling

BOSTON (CBS) – In a letter to the state Department of Correction, 50 Massachusetts lawmakers say they are "greatly troubled" by a federal judge's ruling that ordered prison officials to provide sex-reassignment surgery to a transgender inmate.

The lawmakers are urging that the DOC appeal the judge's ruling.

READ: Letter From Lawmakers To DOC

U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf made the ruling in the case of Michelle Kosilek, who was born as a man but has received hormone treatments and lives as a woman in an all-male prison.

Kosilek is serving a life sentence for murdering his wife, Cheryl.

"The nature of his punishment – life imprisonment without the possibility of parole – sheds light on the heinousness of the crime," the letter reads.

In his ruling Tuesday, Wolf found that surgery is the "only adequate treatment" for Kosilek's "serious medical need."

The lawmakers responded, saying, "We find such a suggestion to be unjustifiable, against the better judgment of the citizens of this state, and offensive to the family of Cheryl McCaul."

Cheryl's family is grateful that the lawmakers are urging an appeal.

"I think this is a great letter," says Cheryl's niece Susan Ohannessian. "It needs to happen. The fight is on and we are not going to back down on this."