Congress to vote on bill banning trans youth care nationally, here’s what it says

US Congress is reportedly considering a bill that would completely ban life-saving healthcare for trans under-18s across every state – here’s what the proposed law says.

The US House will vote on legislation criminalising gender-affirming care for trans young people later today (17 December) following approval from House leadership.

HR 3492, dubbed the ‘Protect Children’s Innocence Act‘, would make it a federal crime for medical professionals to prescribe puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and other kinds of gender-affirming healthcare to trans youth.

If passed into law, medical professionals found guilty of providing care could face hefty fines and up to 10 years imprisonment.

The proposed bill’s author, Marjorie Taylor Greene, tried and failed to approve the bill in 2022 and again in 2023.

House Judiciary Committee members allowed the bill to advance in a shocking bipartisan vote after Greene reintroduced it for a third time in May.

The Republican-majority House will now vote on whether to pass the bill to the Senate during a Congressional hearing on 17 December.

HR 3492 could cost lives, experts warn

The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ suicide prevention non-profit, warned the law’s “detrimental impacts” would significantly increase suicide risks among trans children, who are already disproportionately likely to feel suicidal.

“The multitude of efforts we are seeing from federal legislators to strip transgender and non-binary youth of the health care they need is deeply troubling,” The Trevor Project’s vice president of public engagement, Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, said.

“If implemented, these efforts will have detrimental impacts on transgender and non-binary youth in particular. The Trevor Project’s research shows that access to this care is associated with significantly lower rates of depression and suicide risk among transgender and non-binary young people who receive it.”

Every major medical organisation in the US, including the American medical Association, the American Academy of Paediatrics, and the American Psychological Association, supports gender-affirming healthcare treatment such as puberty blockers.

A 2022 study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health found trans youth were significantly less likely to be depressed or suicidal when prescribed puberty blockers.

“It’s no hyperbole to say that restricting this medically necessary care risks the lives of transgender and non-binary youth in communities all across the US.”

What does HR 3492 say and how could it restrict trans healthcare?

HR 3492 specifically forbids medical professionals and organisations from providing healthcare, which it spuriously describes as “chemical castration”, under penalty of imprisonment.

It would also penalise parents, guardians, or any US citizens who help trans young people access care overseas under similar penalties.

The bill appears to equate gender-affirming treatments such as puberty blockers with gender-affirming surgeries such as vaginoplasty or phalloplasty, which are virtually never performed on trans youth.

Medication which the law considers a form of “chemical castration” includes puberty blockers, testosterone and estrogen supplements, and hormone suppressants.

Exceptions to the laws include surgeries or treatment that is “necessary to the health of the minor”, which it clarifies does not mean “mental, behavioural, or emotional distress”.

It also allows doctors to perform non-consensual surgeries on intersex infants and does not appear to prevent cisgender youth who take puberty blockers for other medical purposes, such as precocious puberty.

Greene has routinely described puberty blockers as a form of “mutilation” while failing to cite evidence for her claims.

The American Medical Association told LGBTQ+ Nation in May that bills such as this only proliferate because of “widespread misinformation” on trans healthcare.

“These policies do not reflect the research landscape,” an AMA spokesperson said at the time. “More than 2,000 scientific studies have examined the aspects of gender-affirming care since 1975.

“When young children experience feelings that their gender identity does not match the sex recorded at birth, the first course of action is to support the child in exploring their gender identity and to provide mental-health support, as needed… medical intervention is reserved for older adolescents and adults.”