No official summary available for this bill.
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5483 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5483
To prohibit health care professionals, hospitals, or clinics from
participating in the chemical or surgical mutilation of a child and to
provide a private right of action for children and the parents of
children whose healthy body parts have been damaged by medical
professionals practicing chemical and surgical mutilation.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 18, 2025
Mr. Onder (for himself, Mr. Carter of Georgia, Mr. Murphy, Mr.
McCormick, Mr. Fleischmann, Mr. Weber of Texas, Mr. Moore of Alabama,
Mr. Baird, Mr. Gill of Texas, Mr. Rose, Mr. Moore of West Virginia, Mr.
Taylor, Mr. Simpson, Mrs. Biggs of South Carolina, Mr. Crenshaw, Mr.
Harris of Maryland, Mr. Harrigan, Mr. Aderholt, Mr. Ogles, and Mr.
Collins) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit health care professionals, hospitals, or clinics from
participating in the chemical or surgical mutilation of a child and to
provide a private right of action for children and the parents of
children whose healthy body parts have been damaged by medical
professionals practicing chemical and surgical mutilation.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Chloe Cole Act''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Chemical or surgical mutilation.--
(A) In general.--The term ``chemical or surgical
mutilation'' means engaging in any one or more of the
following for the purpose of intentionally halting the
natural development of the individual's body so that it
no longer corresponds to the individual's sex or
intentionally changing the individual's body, including
the individual's external appearance or biological
functions, to no longer correspond to the individual's
sex:
(i) The use of puberty blockers, including
gonadotropin releasing hormone agonists and
other interventions, to delay the onset or
progression of normally timed puberty in an
individual.
(ii) The use of sex hormones, such as
androgen blockers, estrogen, progesterone, or
testosterone.
(iii) Surgical procedures that attempt to
transform an individual's physical appearance
or that attempt to alter or remove an
individual's sexual organs.
(B) Exclusions.--Such term does not include any of
the following:
(i) Appropriate and medically necessary
procedures to treat a verifiable disorder of
sexual development, including an individual
born with 46 XX chromosomes with virilization,
with 46 XY chromosomes with undervirilization,
or having both ovarian and testicular tissue.
(ii) The treatment of any infection,
injury, disease, or disorder that has been
caused or exacerbated by the performance of an
intervention described in subparagraph (A)
without regard to whether the intervention was
performed in accordance with State or Federal
law or whether the intervention is covered by
the private right of action under section 4.
(iii) Any intervention undertaken because
the individual suffers from any diagnosed and
verifiable condition of the body's organ
systems, including the following:
(I) Traumatic bodily injuries (such
as fractures, organ rupture, or
penetrating trauma).
(II) Congenital structural
anomalies of major organs or systems,
including the cardiovascular,
respiratory, renal, hepatic,
neurological, or musculoskeletal
systems.
(III) Acute illnesses with a high
probability of rapid mortality.
(iv) Detransition treatment.
(2) Child.--The term ``child'' means an individual under 18
years of age.
(3) Detransition treatment.--The term ``detransition
treatment'' means any treatment, including a mental health
treatment, medical intervention, or surgery, that does either
or both of the following:
(A) Stops or reverses the effects of a prior
chemical or surgical mutilation.
(B) Helps an individual cope with the effects of a
prior chemical or surgical mutilation.
(4) Health care professional.--The term ``health care
professional'' means a person, including a physician, who is
licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized by the laws of a
State to administer health care in the ordinary course of the
practice of his or her profession or performing such acts which
require such licensure.
(5) Mental health professional.--The term ``mental health
professional'' means a person who is licensed to diagnose and
treat mental health conditions in a State.
(6) Participate.--The term ``participate'', with respect to
acts constituting chemical or surgical mutilation as defined in
paragraph (1), means directly engaging in the planning,
authorization, prescription, administration, or performance of
any such act, including any of the following:
(A) Prescribing puberty blockers, sex hormones, or
related medications with the intent to alter an
individual's physical appearance or reproductive
function to align with an identity differing from his
or her sex.
(B) Administering medications or treatments
described in subparagraph (A) with such intent, whether
by injection, oral delivery, or other means.
(C) Performing surgical procedures that attempt to
transform an individual's physical appearance to
confirm a patient's physical appearance to be of the
alternate sex, or that alter or remove sexual organs as
part of chemical or surgical mutilation.
(D) Authorizing or directing such chemical or
surgical mutilation procedures as a supervising health
care professional or institutional representative.
(E) Knowingly planning or coordinating the
provision of treatments or procedures described above
in subparagraph (A), (C), or (D) with the intent to
facilitate chemical or surgical mutilation.
(7) Sex.--The term ``sex'' means a person's immutable
biological classification, determined at the moment of
conception, as either male or female, as follows:
(A) The term ``female'' is a person who naturally
has, had, will have, or would have but for a congenital
anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the
reproductive system that produces, transports, and
utilizes the large gamete (ova) for fertilization.
(B) The term ``male'' is a person who naturally
has, had, will have, or would have but for a congenital
anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the
reproductive system that produces, transports, and
utilizes the small gamete (sperm) for fertilization.
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON CHEMICAL OR SURGICAL MUTILATION.
(a) In General.--No health care professional, hospital, or clinic
shall, in a circumstance described in subsection (b), participate in
the chemical or surgical mutilation of a child, and a health care
professional, hospital, or clinic may commence participation in a
treatment that qualifies as an exception specified in clauses (i)
through (iv) of section 2(1)(B) only after determining that clear and
convincing evidence supports a determination that the treatment so
qualifies.
(b) Circumstances Described.--The circumstances described in this
subsection are that--
(1) the defendant or child traveled in interstate or
foreign commerce, or traveled using a means, channel, facility,
or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce, in
furtherance of or in connection with the participation in the
chemical or surgical mutilation;
(2) the defendant used a means, channel, facility, or
instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce in
furtherance of or in connection with the participation in the
chemical or surgical mutilation;
(3) any payment of any kind was made, directly or
indirectly, in furtherance of or in connection with the
participation in the chemical or surgical mutilation using any
means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or
foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign
commerce;
(4) the defendant transmitted in interstate or foreign
commerce any communication relating to or in furtherance of the
participation in the chemical or surgical mutilation using any
means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or
foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign
commerce by any means or in any manner, including by computer,
mail, wire, or electromagnetic transmission;
(5) any instrument, item, substance, or other object that
has traveled in interstate or foreign commerce was used to
perform the chemical or surgical mutilation;
(6) the chemical or surgical mutilation occurred within the
District of Columbia, the special maritime and territorial
jurisdiction of the United States, or any territory or
possession of the United States; or
(7) the chemical or surgical mutilation otherwise occurred
in or affected interstate or foreign commerce.
SEC. 4. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.
(a) In General.--An individual subjected as a child to chemical or
surgical mutilation prohibited by section 3, or the parents or legal
guardians of such individual, may bring a civil action in an
appropriate district court of the United States for damages against any
health care professional, hospital, or clinic, who participates in the
chemical or surgical mutilation of that child. Such a cause of action
shall be available regardless of whether the alleged chemical or
surgical mutilation occurred before, on, or after the date of enactment
of this Act.
(b) Damages.--Damages available pursuant to such an action may
include--
(1) compensatory damages, including all economic damages
associated with undoing, correcting, or ameliorating the
effects or results of any chemical or surgical mutilation
procedures;
(2) non-economic damages for emotional distress and pain
and suffering; and
(3) punitive damages, if the claimant proves by clear and
convincing evidence that the defendant against whom punitive
damages are sought acted maliciously, intentionally,
fraudulently, or recklessly.
(c) Strict Liability.--Any health care professional, hospital, or
clinic whose participation in the chemical or surgical mutilation of a
child after the date of enactment of this Act is proven by clear and
convincing evidence shall be strictly liable for damages for any such
act of mutilation. If a treatment qualifies under an exception
specified in clauses (i) through (iv) of section 2(1)(B), and that is
raised as an affirmative defense to a violation of this Act, the health
care professional, hospital, or clinic shall bear the burden of proving
by clear and convincing evidence that such exception applies.
SEC. 5. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.
In this Act:
(1) No private right of action is established based on
counseling, referrals to mental health professionals, or
discussions of treatment options, including counseling,
referrals, or options available upon reaching adulthood, or in
circumstances not described in section 3(b), provided by health
care professionals, or mental health professionals, provided
that such actions do not constitute participation in chemical
or surgical mutilation, as defined in section 2.
(2) No liability for a health care professional under these
provisions may be waived.
(3) Any ambiguities shall be resolved against any party
found to have engaged in participation, as defined in section
2(6), in the chemical or surgical mutilation of a child.
(4) In any cases in which chemical or surgical mutilation
of a child is shown to have occurred before the date of
enactment of this Act, there is limited deference to prevailing
standards of care to the extent that such standards contradict
the intent of this Act and it is shown that the health care
professional knew or should have known that such standards of
care were in serious, scientific, and medical dispute at the
time of the chemical or surgical mutilation.
(5) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit a
health care professional or mental health professional from
providing information about all available treatment options,
discussing risks and benefits, or expressing professional
medical opinions, so long as such actions do not constitute
participation in chemical or surgical mutilation.
SEC. 6. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.
An action under section 4 may be brought within 25 years from the
date of the eighteenth birthday of an individual subjected to chemical
or surgical mutilation as a child or within 4 years from the time the
cost of a detransition treatment is incurred, whichever date is later.
SEC. 7. SEVERABILITY.
If any provision of this Act, or the application of such a
provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be
unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, and the application of the
provision held to be unconstitutional to any other person or
circumstance, shall not be affected.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
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