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In her final days in Congress, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is finally getting what she wants.
On Wednesday evening, House Republicans voted 216-211 to pass Greene’s bill to criminalize gender-affirming care for minors nationwide, marking the first time a national ban on care for trans youth has reached — and passed — the House floor.
Last week, Greene posted on X that House leadership had promised her a vote on the legislation after she agreed to advance the National Defense Authorization Act, which she had previously opposed.
Greene’s bill, known as the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, would put doctors in jail for up to 10 years if they prescribe puberty blockers to adolescents or hormone replacement therapy to young trans people. The bill bars gender-affirming surgeries for minors, which are already rare. But the legislation would not just punish doctors, it could ensnare parents and anyone who transports or consents to a minor receiving gender-affirming care.
Advocates warn that this bill — even if it does not clear the Senate — will still create challenges for transgender youth.
“This bill... creates an incredibly dangerous precedent far beyond the specific care at issue, criminalizing care based on ideology and placing Washington politicians between families and their doctors,” Mike Zamore, the national director of policy and government affairs at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.
Currently, more than half of U.S. states already ban such medical treatments. The Supreme Court ruled in June that a Tennessee ban did not violate the Constitution. Separately, Tennessee also made it a felony last year to travel with a minor out of state to receive gender-affirming care.
Greene’s bill is the first time criminal provisions for providing gender-affirming care to minors have advanced on the federal level. Greene has called her proposal “one of President Trump’s key campaign promises and executive orders.”
In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to withhold funding from hospitals and clinics that served transgender people under the age of 19. Over the summer, the Justice Department headed by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, issued more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics requesting patient names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers.
Alex Sheldon, the executive director of GLMA, an LGBTQ+ health equity organization, previously told HuffPost that the DOJ’s investigations were “intended to send a chilling message to everyone, from patients to providers, that they are not safe, not even in the exam room.”
As a result, more than 20 clinics have rolled back services for trans youth and young adults amid the risks of cuts to federal funding and being investigated by the Justice Department. Earlier this month, the largest clinic in Northern California shuttered its doors to trans youth, despite California’s constitutional protections for this kind of care.
“The passage of HR 3492 marks a terrifying moment for families, healthcare providers, and for the health and safety of transgender young people,” Brian Bond, the CEO of PFLAG, said in a statement. “This legislation criminalizes medically necessary, evidence-based care by making healthcare providers felons for doing their jobs and exposing loving parents to potential prosecution simply for supporting their children.”
Ahead of today’s vote, a group of professional medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, and the American Psychiatric Association, wrote a letter to Congress arguing that such a bill would create an “irresolvable ethical conflict” between doctors, families and transgender youth.
The bill will now head to the Senate where it is expected to face some challenges and is unlikely to pass. At least seven Democrats would need to sign on to the bill in order for it to pass.
The House is expected to hear a similar bill tomorrow from GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) which would prohibit the use of Medicaid dollars to fund gender-affirming care treatments for minors.
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