What This Bill Does
This bill allows people under 18 who receive certain medical procedures to sue the doctors who performed them. The bill names these procedures as "gender-transition procedures" and states that medical professionals cannot be forced by federal law to perform them. States that require these procedures would lose federal funding from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Who It Affects
People under 18 who receive gender-transition procedures, their legal guardians, medical practitioners (doctors and other licensed health care providers), and states that receive federal health funding.
Key Provisions
• A person under 18 who is injured by a gender-transition procedure can sue the doctor who performed it for money damages (payment for harm), court orders to stop or prevent something, and payment for lawyer fees, as long as the procedure involved interstate or foreign commerce (Sec. 2).
• A person has 30 years after turning 18 to file a lawsuit against the medical practitioner (Sec. 2).
• No federal law can require a medical practitioner to perform a gender-transition procedure (Sec. 3).
• States that require medical practitioners to perform gender-transition procedures cannot receive federal funding from the Department of Health and Human Services (Sec. 4).
What Changes
If this law passes, minors injured by gender-transition procedures gain the legal right to sue doctors. Medical professionals gain protection from being required by federal law to perform these procedures. States requiring these procedures would lose Department of Health and Human Services funding.
Important Definitions
• "Biological sex" means genetic classification as male or female based on sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, and internal and external genitalia present at birth, without regard to a person's sense of identity.
• "Gender-transition procedure" means: prescribing or giving puberty-blocking drugs to change the body to match a person's sense of identity; prescribing or giving cross-sex hormones (hormones typically associated with a different sex) to change the body to match a person's sense of identity; or surgery to change the body to match a person's sense of identity. The bill excludes procedures for people born with ambiguous sex characteristics, treatment of infections or injuries caused by prior gender-transition procedures, and emergency procedures needed to prevent death or serious harm.
• "Medical practitioner" means a person licensed, certified or authorized by state law to provide health care.
Effective Date
The bill takes effect on the date it becomes law.
I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 1276
To protect children from medical malpractice in the form of gender transition
procedures.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 1, 2023
Mr. BANKS (for himself, Mr. BABIN, Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana, Mr.
GROTHMAN, and Mr. NORMAN) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to
the Committees on the Judiciary, Education and the Workforce, Natural
Resources, and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To protect children from medical malpractice in the form
of gender transition procedures.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect Minors from
4
Medical Malpractice Act of 2023’’.
5
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•HR 1276 IH
SEC. 2. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION FOR A GENDER-TRANSI-
1
TION PROCEDURE PERFORMED ON A MINOR.
2
(a) IN GENERAL.—A medical practitioner, in any cir-
3
cumstance described in subsection (c), who performs a
4
gender-transition procedure on an individual who is less
5
than 18 years of age shall, as described in subsection (b),
6
be liable to the individual if injured (including any phys-
7
ical, psychological, emotional, or physiological harms) by
8
such procedure, related treatment, or the after effects of
9
the procedure or treatment.
10
(b) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—An individual cov-
11
ered by subsection (a) who receives a gender-transition
12
procedure from a medical practitioner (or a representative,
13
including a legal guardian, on behalf of such individual)
14
may, not later than the day that is 30 years after the date
15
on which the individual turns 18 years of age, bring a civil
16
action against such medical practitioner in a court of com-
17
petent jurisdiction for—
18
(1) declaratory or injunctive relief;
19
(2) compensatory damages;
20
(3) punitive damages; and
21
(4) attorney’s fees and costs.
22
(c) CIRCUMSTANCES.—For the purposes of sub-
23
section (a), the circumstances described in this subsection
24
are that—
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•HR 1276 IH
(1) the medical practitioner or the individual re-
1
ceiving the gender-transition procedure traveled in
2
interstate or foreign commerce, or traveled using a
3
means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of inter-
4
state or foreign commerce, in furtherance of or in
5
connection with the conduct described in subsection
6
(a);
7
(2) the medical practitioner used a means,
8
channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or
9
foreign commerce in furtherance of or in connection
10
with the conduct described in subsection (a);
11
(3) any payment of any kind was made, directly
12
or indirectly, in furtherance of or in connection with
13
the conduct described in subsection (a) using any
14
means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of inter-
15
state or foreign commerce or in or affecting inter-
16
state or foreign commerce;
17
(4) the medical practitioner transmitted in
18
interstate or foreign commerce any communication
19
relating to or in furtherance of the conduct de-
20
scribed in subsection (a) using any means, channel,
21
facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign
22
commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign
23
commerce by any means or in any manner, including
24
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by computer, mail, wire, or electromagnetic trans-
1
mission;
2
(5) any instrument, item, substance, or other
3
object that has traveled in interstate or foreign com-
4
merce was used to perform the conduct described in
5
subsection (a);
6
(6) the conduct described in subsection (a) oc-
7
curred within the special maritime and territorial ju-
8
risdiction of the United States, or any territory or
9
possession of the United States; or
10
(7) the conduct described in subsection (a) oth-
11
erwise occurred in or affected interstate or foreign
12
commerce.
13
SEC. 3. PRESERVING FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE AND MED-
14
ICAL JUDGEMENT FOR MEDICAL PROVIDERS.
15
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no provi-
16
sion of Federal law shall require, or be construed to re-
17
quire, a medical practitioner to perform a gender-transi-
18
tion procedure.
19
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON FUNDING FOR CERTAIN STATES.
20
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any
21
State that requires medical practitioners to perform any
22
gender-transition procedure on an individual in the State
23
shall be ineligible to receive any Federal funding from the
24
Department of Health and Human Services.
25
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•HR 1276 IH
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
1
In this Act:
2
(1) BIOLOGICAL
SEX.—The term ‘‘biological
3
sex’’ means the genetic classification of an individual
4
as male or female, as reflected in the organization
5
of the body of such individual for a reproductive role
6
or capacity, such as through sex chromosomes, natu-
7
rally occurring sex hormones, and internal and ex-
8
ternal genitalia present at birth, without regard to
9
the subjective sense of identity of the individual.
10
(2) GENDER-TRANSITION PROCEDURE.—
11
(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in
12
subparagraph (B), the term ‘‘gender-transition
13
procedure’’ means—
14
(i) the prescription or administration
15
of puberty-blocking drugs for the purpose
16
of changing the body of an individual so
17
that it conforms to the subjective sense of
18
identity of the individual, in the case such
19
identity is at odds with the individual’s bi-
20
ological sex;
21
(ii) the prescription or administration
22
of cross-sex hormones for the purpose of
23
changing the body of an individual so that
24
it conforms to the subjective sense of iden-
25
tity of the individual, in the case such
26
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•HR 1276 IH
identity is at odds with the individual’s bi-
1
ological sex; or
2
(iii) a surgery to change the body of
3
an individual so that it conforms to the
4
subjective sense of identity of the indi-
5
vidual, in the case such identity is at odds
6
with the individual’s biological sex.
7
(B) EXCEPTION.—The term ‘‘gender-tran-
8
sition procedure’’ does not include—
9
(i) an intervention described in sub-
10
paragraph (A) that is performed on—
11
(I) an individual with biological
12
sex characteristics that are inherently
13
ambiguous, such as those born with
14
46 XX chromosomes with virilization,
15
46
XY
chromosomes
with
16
undervirilization, or having both ovar-
17
ian and testicular tissue; or
18
(II) an individual with respect to
19
whom a physician has determined
20
through genetic or biochemical testing
21
that the individual does not have nor-
22
mal sex chromosome structure, sex
23
steroid hormone production, or sex
24
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steroid hormone action, for a biologi-
1
cal male or biological female;
2
(ii) the treatment of any infection, in-
3
jury, disease, or disorder that has been
4
caused or exacerbated by the performance
5
of an intervention described in subpara-
6
graph (A) without regard to whether the
7
intervention was performed in accordance
8
with State or Federal law or whether the
9
intervention is covered by the private right
10
of action under section 2; or
11
(iii) any procedure undertaken be-
12
cause the individual suffers from a physical
13
disorder, physical injury, or physical illness
14
that would, as certified by a physician,
15
place the individual in imminent danger of
16
death or impairment of major bodily func-
17
tion unless the procedure is performed.
18
(3) MEDICAL PRACTITIONER.—The term ‘‘med-
19
ical practitioner’’ means a person who is licensed,
20
certified, or otherwise authorized by the laws of a
21
State to administer health care in the ordinary
22
course of the practice of the person’s profession.
23
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•HR 1276 IH
SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.
1
This Act shall take effect on the date of enactment
2
of this Act.
3
Æ
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