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Reps. Banks, LaMalfa, Sen. Cotton Introduce the Protecting Minors from Medical Malpractice Act

June 22, 2022

WASHINGTON—Today, Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks and Congressman Doug LaMalfa are introducing the Protecting Minorsfrom Medical Malpractice Act, legislation to help individuals who suffer from potentially sterilizing gender-transition procedures as minors and to allow them to seek justice in court. Senator Tom Cotton is leading the Senate version of the bill.

Said RSC Chairman Banks: "The Biden administration released official guidance recommending irreversible and life-altering surgery for minors too young to apply for a learner's permit. These procedure lack any solid evidence and have been rejected by public health agencies around the world. Ten years from now, there will be hundreds of thousands of Americans who were permanently scarred by the radical left's agenda before they reached adulthood.

If Democrats truly supported gender-confused children, they'd support our effort to give them legal recourse."

Said Rep. LaMalfa: "Radical gender changing ideologies ignore scientific evidence and put children in harm's way. Every time a doctor performs a gender-transitioning procedure on a minor, they endanger a vulnerable child, potentially sterilize them for life, and break their oath to ‘do no harm.' I'm pleased to join in spearheading this legislation which will ensure a private right of action for minors who are subject to these experimental procedures and ensure that the federal government cannot force a medical practitioner to perform these procedures."

Said Sen. Cotton: "Gender-transition procedures aren't safe or appropriate for children. Unfortunately, radical doctors in the United States perform dangerous, experimental, and even sterilizing gender-transition procedures on young kids, who cannot even provide informed consent. Our bill allows children who grow up to regret these procedures to sue for damages. Any doctor who performs these irresponsible procedures on kids should pay."

Find the final text of the bill here.

The Protecting Minors from Medical Malpractice Act would:

  • Creates a private right of action allowing people who had gender-transition procedures performed on them as minors to sue the medical practitioner who performed the procedure
    • Allows victims or their legal guardian to sue for declaratory or injunctive relief, compensatory damages, and attorney's fees
    • Provides a 30-year statute of limitation after the age of majority
    • Gender-transition procedures include puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures that change an individual's body in order to align with an identity at odds with an individual's biological sex
    • Applicable to procedures performed after the date of passage of this legislation
  • Clarifies that federal law cannot be construed to force medical practitioners to offer such procedures
  • Prohibits federal health funds from going to states that force medical practitioners to perform gender-transition procedures

The legislation is supported by the American Principles Project, Heritage Action, Family Policy Alliance, Family Research Council, Independent Women's Forum, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Alliance Defending Freedom, ForAmerica, Eagle Forum, CHANGED Movement.

Terry Schilling, President, American Principles Project: "Here's a truth obvious to most Americans: if kids are too young to have sex, they certainly shouldn't be changing their sex. Yet across the country, leftist ideologues in the healthcare industry are encouraging countless, mentally distressed children to undergo highly experimental 'gender transition' procedures which can potentially lead to their permanent sterilization as well as other long-term health problems. This is barbarity, pure and simple. As more and more de-transitioners have come forward to express regret about the procedures they went through as minors, it's become clear that the irresponsible actors who pushed them down that road must be held accountable. This legislation will help provide justice to those misled and exploited by this predatory industry. We commend Senator Cotton and Congressman Banks for their courageous leadership in introducing it."

Autumn Leva, Executive Vice President of Family Policy Alliance: "Every day, youth around the country are endangered by transgender interventions that can leave them sterile, missing healthy body parts, and filled with regret. Kids who are hurting and struggling need help, not harm, and that's why we strongly support the Protecting Minors from Medical Malpractice. For far too long children who have legitimate gender conflict have been pressured into transition by politicized medicine. Children who experience gender dysphoria should not be subjected to experimental treatment and harmful procedures being hawked by a political agenda. Protecting Minors from Medical Malpractice will spare children a lifetime of regret resulting from politicized medicine and unsound advice. We applaud Chairman Jim Banks and Senator Tom Cotton for their excellent leadership on this important issue to protect America's children."

Mary Beth Waddell, J.D., Director of Federal Affairs, Family and Religious Liberty, Family Research Council: I am grateful to Rep. Banks and Sen. Cotton for introducing the Protecting Minors from Medical Malpractice Act. The harms of gender-transition procedures are clear, yet many activists not only ignore the harms but insist that these procedures are medically necessary. The stories of those who have undergone irreversible procedures only to realize they didn't fix the feelings of gender incongruence but made them feel worse, is heartbreaking. The heartbreak is even heavier when these stories come from children who were lead down this road by medical practitioners they trusted. This legislation gives these children a voice and a path to at least a measure of restitution for what they have endured by being subjected to experimentation by those who should protect them and "do no harm."

Elizabeth Woning and Ken Williams, Co-founders, CHANGED Movement: "Many among us who once identified as transgender have sought restoration after surgeries and hormone therapies. And unfortunately, some are permanently disfigured and lack the financial means to recover. Thank you, Sen. Cotton, Rep. LaMalfa, and RSC Chairman Banks for anticipating the injustice of rushing children into unproven and irreversible procedures. "

Kris Ullman, President of Eagle Forum: "No child should be subjected to the harmful experimentation practices of doctors who perform gender reassignment surgeries. The long-term effects of such procedures are unhealthy both physically and mentally. Eagle Forum applauds Senator Tom Cotton, RSC Chairman Jim Banks and Rep. Doug LaMalfa for introducing the Protecting Minors from Medical Malpractice Act to give a private right of action to people who had this surgery performed on them as minors."

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