OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) joined Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Steve Daines (R-MT) to introduce the Protecting Minors from Medical Malpractice Act, which would allow individuals who suffered experimental and potentially sterilizing gender-transition procedures as minors to seek justice in court. Representative Jim Banks (R-IN) is leading companion legislation in the House of Representatives.
“Before a child is allowed to vote or drive, some children are given experimental gender-transition procedures by doctors who succumb to the political pressure of radical progressives rather than protecting the long-term health of kids who are still developing mentally and physically,” said Lankford. “These procedures are life-altering, lack medical justification, and can cause irreversible side-effects. When kids as young as 11 are victims of experimental medicine in a woke culture, they need the ability decades from now to challenge their doctor’s actions. This has gone too far, and our bill takes steps to stop it. If doctors won’t proactively take responsibility for the health and well-being of their patients, particularly the health and well-being of minors, by upholding the Hippocratic Oath, then those patients should have the right to hold their doctors accountable in court.”
“Gender-transition procedures aren’t safe or appropriate for children. 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,” said Cotton.
“The Biden administration released official guidance recommending irreversible and life-altering surgery for minors too young to apply for a learner’s permit. These procedures lack any solid evidence and have been rejected by public health agencies around the world. Ten years from now, there will be hundreds of thousands of Americans who were permanently scarred by the radical left’s agenda before they reached adulthood. If Democrats truly supported gender-confused children, they’d support our effort to give them legal recourse,” said Banks.
The Protecting Minors from Medical Malpractice Act would:
- Create a private right of action allowing people who have gender-transition procedures performed on them as minors to sue the medical practitioner who performed the procedure.
- Allow victims or their legal guardian to sue for declaratory or injunctive relief, compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees
- Provide a 30-year statute of limitation after the age of majority
- Gender-transition procedures include puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures that change an individual’s body in order to align with an identity at odds with an individual’s biological sex
- Applicable to procedures performed after the date of passage of this legislation
- Clarify that federal law cannot be construed to force medical practitioners to offer such procedures.
- Prohibit federal health funds from going to states that force medical practitioners to perform gender-transition procedures.
The bill is supported by the American Principles Project, Heritage Action, Family Policy Alliance, Family Research Council, Independent Women’s Forum, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Alliance Defending Freedom, ForAmerica, Eagle Forum, and CHANGED Movement.