CEC Slams GOP Bill to Jail Parents, Doctors of Trans Youth
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Takano released the following statement after the House Judiciary Committee voted to advance a bill, sponsored by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, out of committee that would criminalize providing medically-necessary healthcare for young transgender people:
“It is outrageous that House Judiciary Committee Republicans just voted to advance a bill that would throw parents and doctors in jail for providing medically-necessary care to young trans people,” said Rep. Mark Takano (CA-39), Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus. “This is just another attempt by extremist Republican politicians to simultaneously further their anti-transgender agenda and distract the American people from their recently passed reconciliation scheme that will kick 16 million Americans off of their health insurance. Instead of working to make healthcare more affordable and accessible, the GOP is trying to intimidate trans people, their families, and their doctors with threats of prison—just for trying to give young trans medical care that’s supported by every major medical association. Transgender people and their families should be able to access evidence-based care without having to get approval by politicians like Marjorie Taylor Greene.
BACKGROUND
H.R. 3492, the so-called “Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” would criminalize providing transgender-related healthcare, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries, to transgender people under 18. Under this bill, violators would be subject to fines, up to 10 years in prison, or both for helping a young transgender person access the healthcare they need.
The bill defines prescribing or administering medications like puberty blockers and hormone therapy to young transgender people as “chemical castration” and interventions like surgery as “genital or bodily mutilation.” These treatments would be completely illegal to prescribe to transgender people under 18, but remain completely legal for cisgender people the same age. For example, cisgender people under 18 could still access puberty blockers, get breast surgery, or plastic surgery.
The bill also exempts coercive and medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex infants and children so that they can still be provided. Such surgeries are most commonly performed before the age of two—many years before a child with an intersex variation will have any ability to assess how potential medical interventions might align with or undermine their own medical needs, embodiment priorities, and reproductive and sexual autonomy in adulthood. Unlike the care that is sought and needed by transgender adolescents and adults, these practices on intersex children are imposed without individual consent or assent, are not necessary to treat an existing health concern, and have not been demonstrated to benefit the well-being of the individuals on whom they are performed.
On the other hand, every major medical and mental health association in the U.S., representing more than 1.3 million U.S. doctors, supports providing age-appropriate and affirming healthcare for transgender people. This includes the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Endocrine Society, among other organizations.