GOP Lawmakers Push Bill to Sue ‘Radical Doctors’ for Gender-Transition Procedures on Minors

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) speaks at the Heritage Foundation in Wash., on March 29, 2022. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

A group of Republican lawmakers has introduced legislation that will allow individuals to sue doctors who performed gender transition surgery on them while they were minors.

The legislation, Protecting Minors from Medical Malpractice Act, creates a private right of action for such people, allowing them to sue not only the medical practitioner but also their legal guardian for “declaratory or injunctive relief, compensatory damages, and attorney’s fees,” according to a June 23 press release by Florida Senator Marco Rubio.

The legislation provides a 30-year statute of limitation after the age of majority, prohibits federal health funds from going to states that force medical practitioners to perform transition procedures, and makes it clear that federal law cannot be construed to force practitioners to offer such procedures. The law will be applicable to all gender transition procedures performed after passage of the bill.

The legislation has support from various organizations like the Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, Heritage Action, the American Principles Project, and the Alliance Defending Freedom.

“Gender-transition procedures aren’t safe or appropriate for children,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), one of the lawmakers who introduced the bill, said in the release. “Unfortunately, radical doctors in the United States perform dangerous, experimental, and even sterilizing gender-transition procedures on young kids, who cannot even provide informed consent.”

“Our bill allows children who grow up to regret these procedures to sue for damages. Any doctor who performs these irresponsible procedures on kids should pay.”

Other Legal Measures

Multiple states are taking measures against gender transition procedures targeting children. In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration has taken steps to potentially restrict the state’s Medicaid coverage for transgender surgery or substances for youth.

A report issued by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) points out that there is “insufficient evidence that sex reassignment through medical interventions is a safe and effective treatment for gender dysphoria.”

Instead, available data showed that interventions caused “irreversible physical changes and side effects that can affect long-term health.”

In April, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed into law measures that outlawed so-called puberty-blocking drugs or hormones for children. It also prohibited teachers from discussing sexual orientation and identity issues in school.

Speaking about the Protecting Minors from Medical Malpractice Act, Representative Jim Banks from Indiana, who is leading companion legislation in the House of Representatives, criticized the Biden administration for releasing official guidance recommending “irreversible and life-altering” surgery for minor U.S. citizens who are too young to even apply for a learner driver’s permit.

Such transition procedures “lack any solid evidence” and have been rejected by global public agencies, Banks noted in Rubio’s press release. He predicted that there will be hundreds of thousands of Americans a decade from now who will be “permanently scarred by the radical left’s agenda” before they reach adulthood.