II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 312
To establish a Federal tort against pediatric gender clinics and other entities
pushing gender-transition procedures that cause bodily injury to children
or harm the mental health of children.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY29, 2025
Mr. H
AWLEY(for himself and Mr. CRUZ) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To establish a Federal tort against pediatric gender clinics
and other entities pushing gender-transition procedures
that cause bodily injury to children or harm the mental
health of children.
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 ‘‘Jamie Reed Protecting 4
Our Kids from Child Abuse Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FEDERAL TORT FOR HARM TO CHILDREN CAUSED 6
BY GENDER-TRANSITION PROCEDURES. 7
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
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(1) GENDER TRANSITION PROCEDURE .— 1
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 2
subparagraph (B), the term ‘‘gender-transition 3
procedure’’ means— 4
(i) the prescription or administration 5
of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists 6
or any other puberty-blocking drugs for 7
the purpose of changing the body of an in-8
dividual so that it conforms to the subjec-9
tive sense of identity of the individual, in 10
the case such identity is at odds with the 11
individual’s biological sex of male or fe-12
male; 13
(ii) the prescription or administration 14
of testosterone (when prescribed to a fe-15
male) or estrogen (when prescribed to a 16
male) for the purpose of changing the body 17
of an individual so that it conforms to the 18
subjective sense of identity of the indi-19
vidual, in the case such identity is at odds 20
with the individual’s biological sex of male 21
or female; or 22
(iii) a surgery to change the body of 23
an individual so that it conforms to the 24
subjective sense of identity of the indi-25
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vidual, in the case such identity is at odds 1
with the individual’s biological sex of male 2
or female. 3
(B) E
XCEPTION.—The term ‘‘gender-tran-4
sition procedure’’ does not include— 5
(i) an intervention described in sub-6
paragraph (A) that is performed on— 7
(I) an individual with biological 8
sex characteristics that are inherently 9
ambiguous, such as those born with 10
46 XX chromosomes with virilization, 11
46 XY chromosomes with 12
undervirilization, or having both ovar-13
ian and testicular tissue; or 14
(II) an individual with respect to 15
whom a physician has determined 16
through genetic or biochemical testing 17
that the individual does not have nor-18
mal sex chromosome structure, sex 19
steroid hormone production, or sex 20
steroid hormone action, for a biologi-21
cal male or biological female; 22
(ii) the treatment of any infection, in-23
jury, disease, or disorder that has been 24
caused or exacerbated by the performance 25
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of an intervention described in subpara-1
graph (A) without regard to whether the 2
intervention was performed in accordance 3
with State or Federal law or whether the 4
intervention is covered by the private right 5
of action under subsection (c); or 6
(iii) any procedure undertaken be-7
cause the individual suffers from a physical 8
disorder, physical injury, or physical illness 9
that would, as certified by a physician, 10
place the individual in imminent danger of 11
death or impairment of major bodily func-12
tion unless the procedure is performed. 13
(2) H
OSPITAL.—The term ‘‘hospital’’ has the 14
meaning given such term in section 1861(e) of the 15
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(e)). 16
(3) I
NSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION .—The 17
term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 18
meaning given such term in section 101 of the High-19
er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 20
(4) M
EDICAL PRACTITIONER.—The term ‘‘med-21
ical practitioner’’ means a person who is licensed, 22
certified, or otherwise authorized by the laws of a 23
State to administer health care in the ordinary 24
course of the practice of the person’s profession. 25
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(5) MINOR.—The term ‘‘minor’’ means an indi-1
vidual who has not yet reached 18 years of age. 2
(6) P
EDIATRIC GENDER CLINIC .—The term 3
‘‘pediatric gender clinic’’ means a medical facility 4
that specializes in the diagnosis or treatment of gen-5
der discordance and gender dysphoria in minors, in-6
cluding medical interventions such as therapeutic di-7
agnosis of gender dysphoria and performance of (or 8
referral for) gender-transition procedures on minors. 9
(b) L
IABILITY.—The following individuals and enti-10
ties shall be liable in accordance with this section to any 11
individual who suffers bodily injury or harm to mental 12
health (including any physical, psychological, emotional, or 13
physiological harm) that is attributable, in whole or in 14
part, to a gender-transition procedure performed on the 15
individual when the individual was a minor: 16
(1) A pediatric gender clinic where the gender- 17
transition procedure was provided. 18
(2) Any medical practitioner who administered 19
health care, at the time of the particular procedure, 20
at the pediatric gender clinic where the gender-tran-21
sition procedure was provided. 22
(3) An institution of higher education that 23
hosts, operates, partners with, provides funding to, 24
or is otherwise affiliated with the pediatric gender 25
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clinic where the gender-transition procedure was 1
provided. 2
(4) A hospital that hosts, operates, partners 3
with, provides funding to, or is otherwise affiliated 4
with the pediatric gender clinic where the gender- 5
transition procedure was provided. 6
(5) Any medical practitioner who performed the 7
gender-transition procedure on the individual. 8
(c) P
RIVATERIGHT OFACTION.—An individual who 9
suffers bodily injury or harm to mental health that is at-10
tributable, in whole or in part, to a gender-transition pro-11
cedure provided to the individual when the individual was 12
a minor may, not later than 30 years after the date on 13
which the individual turns 18 years of age, bring a civil 14
action against an individual or entity described in sub-15
section (b), in an appropriate district court of the United 16
States or a State court of competent jurisdiction for— 17
(1) compensatory damages; 18
(2) punitive damages; and 19
(3) attorney’s fees and costs. 20
(d) A
FFIRMATIVEDEFENSE.—It shall be an affirma-21
tive defense to an action brought by or on behalf of an 22
individual upon whom a gender-transition procedure was 23
performed under subsection (c) that the pediatric gender 24
clinic or medical practitioner who performed the gender- 25
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transition procedure on the individual, at all relevant 1
times, did not know and had no reason to know that the 2
individual in question was a minor. 3
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON FUNDING. 4
No Federal funds may be made available— 5
(1) to a pediatric gender clinic; 6
(2) to an institution of higher education or hos-7
pital that hosts, operates, partners with, provides 8
funding to, or is otherwise affiliated with, a pediatric 9
gender clinic; or 10
(3) for any gender-transition procedure per-11
formed on a minor. 12
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE AND RETROACTIVE APPLICATION. 13
This Act shall— 14
(1) take effect on the date of enactment of this 15
Act; and 16
(2) apply to any gender-transition procedure 17
that took place before, on, or after the effective date 18
under paragraph (1). 19
SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY. 20
If any provision of this Act, or the application of such 21
provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be un-22
constitutional, the remainder of this Act, and the applica-23
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tion of the remaining provisions of this Act, to any person 1
or circumstance, shall not be affected. 2
Æ
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