Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB209 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 209
5	5	To protect children from medical malpractice in the form of gender-transition
6	6	procedures.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	JANUARY23, 2025
9	9	Mr. C
10	10	OTTON(for himself, Mr. BANKS, Mr. SHEEHY, and Mr. MULLIN) intro-
11	11	duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com-
12	12	mittee on the Judiciary
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To protect children from medical malpractice in the form
15	15	of gender-transition procedures.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Minors 4
20	20	from Medical Malpractice Act of 2025’’. 5
21	21	SEC. 2. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION FOR A GENDER-TRANSI-6
22	22	TION PROCEDURE PERFORMED ON A MINOR. 7
23	23	(a) I
24	24	NGENERAL.—A medical practitioner, in any cir-8
25	25	cumstance described in subsection (c), who performs a 9
26	26	gender-transition procedure on an individual who is less 10
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29	29	•S 209 IS
30	30	than 18 years of age shall, as described in subsection (b), 1
31	31	be liable to the individual if injured (including any phys-2
32	32	ical, psychological, emotional, or physiological harms) by 3
33	33	such procedure, related treatment, or the aftereffects of 4
34	34	the procedure or treatment. 5
35	35	(b) P
36	36	RIVATERIGHT OFACTION.—An individual cov-6
37	37	ered by subsection (a) who receives a gender-transition 7
38	38	procedure from a medical practitioner (or a representative, 8
39	39	including a legal guardian, on behalf of such individual) 9
40	40	may, not later than the day that is 30 years after the date 10
41	41	on which the individual turns 18 years of age, bring a civil 11
42	42	action against such medical practitioner in a court of com-12
43	43	petent jurisdiction for— 13
44	44	(1) declaratory or injunctive relief; 14
45	45	(2) compensatory damages; 15
46	46	(3) punitive damages; and 16
47	47	(4) attorney’s fees and costs. 17
48	48	(c) C
49	49	IRCUMSTANCES.—For the purposes of sub-18
50	50	section (a), the circumstances described in this subsection 19
51	51	are that— 20
52	52	(1) the medical practitioner or the individual re-21
53	53	ceiving the gender-transition procedure traveled in 22
54	54	interstate or foreign commerce, or traveled using a 23
55	55	means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of inter-24
56	56	state or foreign commerce, in furtherance of or in 25
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59	59	•S 209 IS
60	60	connection with the conduct described in subsection 1
61	61	(a); 2
62	62	(2) the medical practitioner used a means, 3
63	63	channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or 4
64	64	foreign commerce in furtherance of or in connection 5
65	65	with the conduct described in subsection (a); 6
66	66	(3) any payment of any kind was made, directly 7
67	67	or indirectly, in furtherance of or in connection with 8
68	68	the conduct described in subsection (a) using any 9
69	69	means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of inter-10
70	70	state or foreign commerce or in or affecting inter-11
71	71	state or foreign commerce; 12
72	72	(4) the medical practitioner transmitted in 13
73	73	interstate or foreign commerce any communication 14
74	74	relating to or in furtherance of the conduct de-15
75	75	scribed in subsection (a) using any means, channel, 16
76	76	facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign 17
77	77	commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign 18
78	78	commerce by any means or in any manner, including 19
79	79	by computer, mail, wire, or electromagnetic trans-20
80	80	mission; 21
81	81	(5) any instrument, item, substance, or other 22
82	82	object that has traveled in interstate or foreign com-23
83	83	merce was used to perform the conduct described in 24
84	84	subsection (a); 25
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87	87	•S 209 IS
88	88	(6) the conduct described in subsection (a) oc-1
89	89	curred within the special maritime and territorial ju-2
90	90	risdiction of the United States, or any territory or 3
91	91	possession of the United States; or 4
92	92	(7) the conduct described in subsection (a) oth-5
93	93	erwise occurred in or affected interstate or foreign 6
94	94	commerce. 7
95	95	SEC. 3. PRESERVING FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE AND MED-8
96	96	ICAL JUDGEMENT FOR MEDICAL PROVIDERS. 9
97	97	Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no provi-10
98	98	sion of Federal law shall require, or be construed to re-11
99	99	quire, a medical practitioner to perform a gender-transi-12
100	100	tion procedure. 13
101	101	SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON FUNDING FOR CERTAIN STATES. 14
102	102	Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any 15
103	103	State that requires medical practitioners to perform any 16
104	104	gender-transition procedure on an individual in the State 17
105	105	shall be ineligible to receive any Federal funding from the 18
106	106	Department of Health and Human Services. 19
107	107	SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 20
108	108	In this Act: 21
109	109	(1) B
110	110	IOLOGICAL SEX.—The term ‘‘biological 22
111	111	sex’’ means the genetic classification of an individual 23
112	112	as male or female, as reflected in the organization 24
113	113	of the body of such individual for a reproductive role 25
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116	116	•S 209 IS
117	117	or capacity, such as through sex chromosomes, natu-1
118	118	rally occurring sex hormones, and internal and ex-2
119	119	ternal genitalia present at birth, without regard to 3
120	120	the subjective sense of identity of the individual. 4
121	121	(2) G
122	122	ENDER-TRANSITION PROCEDURE .— 5
123	123	(A) I
124	124	N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 6
125	125	subparagraph (B), the term ‘‘gender-transition 7
126	126	procedure’’ means— 8
127	127	(i) the prescription or administration 9
128	128	of puberty-blocking drugs for the purpose 10
129	129	of changing the body of an individual so 11
130	130	that it conforms to the subjective sense of 12
131	131	identity of the individual, in the case such 13
132	132	identity is at odds with the individual’s bi-14
133	133	ological sex; 15
134	134	(ii) the prescription or administration 16
135	135	of cross-sex hormones for the purpose of 17
136	136	changing the body of an individual so that 18
137	137	it conforms to the subjective sense of iden-19
138	138	tity of the individual, in the case such 20
139	139	identity is at odds with the individual’s bi-21
140	140	ological sex; or 22
141	141	(iii) a surgery to change the body of 23
142	142	an individual so that it conforms to the 24
143	143	subjective sense of identity of the indi-25
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146	146	•S 209 IS
147	147	vidual, in the case such identity is at odds 1
148	148	with the individual’s biological sex. 2
149	149	(B) E
150	150	XCEPTION.—The term ‘‘gender-tran-3
151	151	sition procedure’’ does not include— 4
152	152	(i) an intervention described in sub-5
153	153	paragraph (A) that is performed on— 6
154	154	(I) an individual with biological 7
155	155	sex characteristics that are inherently 8
156	156	ambiguous, such as those born with 9
157	157	46 XX chromosomes with virilization, 10
158	158	46 XY chromosomes with 11
159	159	undervirilization, or having both ovar-12
160	160	ian and testicular tissue; or 13
161	161	(II) an individual with respect to 14
162	162	whom a physician has determined 15
163	163	through genetic or biochemical testing 16
164	164	that the individual does not have nor-17
165	165	mal sex chromosome structure, sex 18
166	166	steroid hormone production, or sex 19
167	167	steroid hormone action, for a biologi-20
168	168	cal male or biological female; 21
169	169	(ii) the treatment of any infection, in-22
170	170	jury, disease, or disorder that has been 23
171	171	caused or exacerbated by the performance 24
172	172	of an intervention described in subpara-25
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175	175	•S 209 IS
176	176	graph (A) without regard to whether the 1
177	177	intervention was performed in accordance 2
178	178	with State or Federal law or whether the 3
179	179	intervention is covered by the private right 4
180	180	of action under section 2; or 5
181	181	(iii) any procedure undertaken be-6
182	182	cause the individual suffers from a physical 7
183	183	disorder, physical injury, or physical illness 8
184	184	that would, as certified by a physician, 9
185	185	place the individual in imminent danger of 10
186	186	death or impairment of major bodily func-11
187	187	tion unless the procedure is performed. 12
188	188	(3) M
189	189	EDICAL PRACTITIONER.—The term ‘‘med-13
190	190	ical practitioner’’ means a person who is licensed, 14
191	191	certified, or otherwise authorized by the laws of a 15
192	192	State to administer health care in the ordinary 16
193	193	course of the practice of the person’s profession. 17
194	194	SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 18
195	195	This Act shall take effect on the date of enactment 19
196	196	of this Act. 20
197	197	Æ
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