The legislation, introduced by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, would establish prison sentences for conducting sex change surgeries on minors.
Legislation that would make it a crime to provide gender transition treatments to minors has been approved by the US House of Representatives. The bill was introduced by Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The House passed the measure on Wednesday with a close 216-211 vote. For it to become law, it must also pass the Senate, a prospect generally considered unlikely as it would need support from both parties to move forward.
Titled the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” the bill aims to enforce punishments of as many as 10 years in prison for “genital or bodily mutilation” or “chemical castration” performed on a minor. Its provisions include various medical procedures, surgeries, and the prescribing of puberty blockers and hormones for the purpose of gender transition.
”Children are NOT experiments. No more drugs. No more surgeries. No more permanent harm. We need to let kids grow up without manipulation from adults to make life-altering decisions,” Greene stated on X before the vote, calling on Congress to “protect America’s children.”
The House’s vote occurs as part of a wider initiative by President Donald Trump to roll back federal transgender policies. Since resuming the presidency, he has issued executive orders halting government funding for gender transition procedures for individuals under 19 and instructing federal agencies to rescind policies acknowledging gender identity apart from biological sex.
Trump has also mandated prohibitions on transgender athletes competing in women’s sports at federally regulated events and restored limits on transgender people serving in the US military. Consequently, the Pentagon has prohibited anyone with a current or previous gender dysphoria diagnosis from enlisting or remaining in service, a ban the Supreme Court has supported.
During a March address to Congress, Trump further encouraged legislators to pass a law “permanently banning and criminalizing sex changes on children.”
In Wednesday’s debate, Democrats denounced Greene’s bill, accusing Republicans of being “obsessed” with transgender individuals and targeting what they called a “misunderstood and vulnerable 1 percent of the population.” Other lawmakers contended the legislation would undermine parental rights and subject physicians to legal action for adhering to standard medical care.