Text of IL HB 4482 (2026)

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 HB4482 Introduced , by Rep. William E Hauter SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: New Act Creates the Prohibition on Gender Reassignment Procedures Act. Sets forth findings. Defines terms. Provides that a health care provider shall not perform or offer to perform on a minor, or administer or offer to administer to a minor, a medical procedure if the performance or administration of the procedure is for the purpose of: (1) enabling the minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor's sex; or (2) treating purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor's sex and asserted identity. Provides for a private right of action for a minor or a parent of a minor that was injured as a result of the Act and a right of action for the Attorney General. Provides that a violation constitutes a potential threat to public health, safety, and welfare and emergency action shall be taken by an alleged violator's appropriate regulatory authority. Provides that a minor upon whom a medical procedure is performed or administered must not be held liable for violating the Act. Makes other changes. LRB104 14836 AAS 27980 b A BILL FOR HB4482LRB104 14836 AAS 27980 b 1 AN ACT concerning regulation. 2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 3represented in the General Assembly: 4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the 5Prohibition on Gender Reassignment Procedures Act. 6 Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds the 7following: 8 (1) The General Assembly must take action to protect 9 the health and welfare of minors. 10 (2) Medical procedures that alter a minor's hormonal 11 balance, remove a minor's sex organs, or otherwise change 12 a minor's physical appearance are harmful to a minor when 13 the procedures are performed for the purpose of enabling a 14 minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity 15 that is inconsistent with the minor's sex or treating 16 purported discomfort or distress from a discordance 17 between the minor's sex and asserted identity. These 18 procedures can lead to the minor becoming irreversibly 19 sterile, having an increased risk of disease and illness, 20 or suffering from adverse and sometimes fatal 21 psychological consequences. Moreover, the General Assembly 22 finds it likely that not all harmful effects associated 23 with these types of medical procedures when performed on a HB4482- 2 -LRB104 14836 AAS 27980 b 1 minor are fully known as many of these procedures, when 2 performed on a minor for such purposes, are experimental 3 in nature and not supported by high-quality, long-term 4 medical studies. 5 (3) There is evidence that medical procedures that 6 alter a minor's hormonal balance, remove a minor's sex 7 organs, or otherwise change a minor's physical appearance 8 are not consistent with professional medical standards 9 when the medical procedures are performed for the purpose 10 of enabling a minor to identify with, or live as, a 11 purported identity inconsistent with the minor's sex or 12 treating purported discomfort or distress from a 13 discordance between the minor's sex and asserted identity 14 because a minor's discordance can be resolved by less 15 invasive approaches that are likely to result in better 16 outcomes for the minor. 17 (4) Medical procedures are being performed on and 18 administered to minors in this State for such purposes, 19 notwithstanding the risks and harms to the minors. 20 (5) Dr. John Money, one of the earliest advocates for 21 performing or administering such medical procedures on 22 minors and a founder of the Johns Hopkins Gender Identity 23 Clinic, abused minors entrusted to his care, resulting in 24 the suicides of David and Brian Reimer. 25 (6) Such medical procedures are being performed on and 26 administered to minors in this State with rapidly HB4482- 3 -LRB104 14836 AAS 27980 b 1 increasing frequency and supposed guidelines advocating 2 such treatment have changed substantially in recent years. 3 (7) Minors lack the maturity to fully understand and 4 appreciate the life-altering consequences of such 5 procedures and many individuals have expressed regret for 6 medical procedures that were performed on or administered 7 to them for such purposes when they were minors. 8 (8) Many of the same pharmaceutical companies that 9 contributed to the opioid epidemic have sought to profit 10 from the administration of drugs to or the use of devices 11 on minors for such purposes and have paid consulting fees 12 to physicians who then advocate for the administration of 13 drugs or the use of devices for such purposes. 14 (9) The integrity and public respect of the medical 15 profession are significantly harmed by health care 16 providers performing or administering such medical 17 procedures on minors. 18 (10) This State has a legitimate, substantial, and 19 compelling interest in the following: (1) protecting 20 minors from physical and emotional harm, (2) protecting 21 the ability of minors to develop into adults who can 22 create children of their own, (3) promoting the dignity of 23 minors, (4) encouraging minors to appreciate their sex, 24 particularly as they undergo puberty, and (5) protecting 25 the integrity of the medical profession, including by 26 prohibiting medical procedures that are harmful, HB4482- 4 -LRB104 14836 AAS 27980 b 1 unethical, immoral, experimental, or unsupported by 2 high-quality or long-term studies, or that might encourage 3 minors to become disdainful of their sex. 4 Section 10. Purpose. It is the purpose of this Act to 5prohibit medical procedures from being administered to or 6performed on minors when the purpose of the medical procedure 7is to: (1) enable a minor to identify with, or live as, a 8purported identity inconsistent with the minor's sex; or (2) 9treat purported discomfort or distress from a discordance 10between the minor's sex and asserted identity. 11 Section 15. Definitions. As used in this Act: 12 "Congenital defect" means a physical or chemical 13abnormality present in a minor that is inconsistent with the 14normal development of a human being of the minor's sex. 15"Congenital defect" includes abnormalities caused by a 16medically verifiable disorder of sex development. "Congenital 17defect" does not include gender dysphoria, gender identity 18disorder, gender incongruence, or any mental condition, 19disorder, disability, or abnormality. 20 "Health care provider" means a health care professional, 21establishment, or facility licensed, registered, certified, or 22permitted and regulated under the authority of any of the 23following: 24 (1) the Department of Financial and Professional HB4482- 5 -LRB104 14836 AAS 27980 b 1 Regulation; 2 (2) the Department of Public Health; or 3 (3) an agency, board, council, or committee attached 4 to the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation 5 or the Department of Public Health. 6 "Medical procedure" includes, but is not limited to, 7surgically removing, modifying, altering, or entering into 8tissues, cavities, or organs of a human being or prescribing, 9administering, or dispensing any drug or device to a human 10being. 11 "Minor" means an individual under 18 years of age. 12 "Parent" means any biological, legal, or adoptive parent 13or any legal guardian of the minor. 14 "Sex" means a person's immutable characteristics of the 15reproductive system that define the individual as male or 16female, as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the 17time of birth. 18 Section 20. Prohibitions. 19 (a) A health care provider shall not perform or offer to 20perform on a minor, or administer or offer to administer to a 21minor, a medical procedure if the performance or 22administration of the procedure is for the purpose of: (1) 23enabling the minor to identify with, or live as, a purported 24identity inconsistent with the minor's sex; or (2) treating 25purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between HB4482- 6 -LRB104 14836 AAS 27980 b 1the minor's sex and asserted identity. 2 (b) It is not a violation of this Section if a health care 3provider performs or offers to perform a medical procedure on, 4or administers or offers to administer a medical procedure to, 5a minor if: 6 (1) the performance or administration of the medical 7 procedure is to treat a minor's congenital defect, 8 disease, or physical injury; or 9 (2) the performance or administration of the medical 10 procedure on the minor began prior to the effective date 11 of this Act. 12 The minor's treating physician must certify in writing 13that, in the physician's good-faith medical judgment and based 14upon the facts known to the physician at the time, ending the 15medical procedure would be harmful to the minor. The 16certification must include the findings supporting the 17certification and must be made a part of the minor's medical 18record. 19 For purposes of this subsection (b), "disease" does not 20include gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder, gender 21incongruence, or any mental condition, disorder, disability, 22or abnormality. 23 (c) A health care provider shall not perform or administer 24a medical procedure that is different from the medical 25procedure performed prior to the effective date of this Act 26when the sole purpose of the different medical procedure is HB4482- 7 -LRB104 14836 AAS 27980 b 1to: (1) enable the minor to identify with, or live as, a 2purported identity inconsistent with the minor's sex; or (2) 3treat purported discomfort or distress from a discordance 4between the minor's sex and asserted identity. 5 (d) Nothing in this Section abrogates a minor's right to 6bring a cause of action against a health care provider or the 7minor's parent pursuant to Section 25. 8 (e) It is not a defense to any legal liability incurred as 9the result of a violation of this Section that a minor, or a 10parent of a minor, consented to the conduct that constituted 11the violation. This Section supersedes any common law rule 12regarding a minor's ability to consent to a medical procedure 13that is performed or administered for the purpose of: (1) 14enabling the minor to identify with, or live as, a purported 15identity inconsistent with the minor's sex; or (2) treating 16purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between 17the minor's sex and asserted identity. 18 Section 25. Private right of action. 19 (a) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, a minor, or 20the parent of a minor, injured as a result of a violation of 21Section 20, may bring a civil cause of action to recover 22compensatory damages, punitive damages, and reasonable 23attorney's fees, court costs, and expenses. 24 (b) A minor injured as a result of a violation of Section 2520 may bring a civil cause of action pursuant to this Section HB4482- 8 -LRB104 14836 AAS 27980 b 1against the health care provider alleged to have violated 2Section 20 and the minor's parent if the parent of the minor 3consented to the conduct that constituted the violation on 4behalf of the minor. 5 (c) This Section supersedes any common law immunity 6granted to a parent. 7 (d) The parent of a minor injured as a result of a 8violation of Section 20 may bring a civil cause of action 9pursuant to this Section against a health care provider 10alleged to have violated Section 20. The parent of a minor 11injured as a result of a violation of Section 20 shall not 12bring a civil cause of action against a health care provider if 13the parent consented to the conduct that constituted the 14violation on behalf of the minor. 15 (e) The parent or next of kin of a minor may bring a 16wrongful death action against a health care provider alleged 17to have violated Section 20 if the injured minor is deceased 18and both of the following are met: 19 (1) the minor's death is the result of the physical or 20 emotional harm inflicted upon the minor by the violation; 21 and 22 (2) the parent of the minor did not consent to the 23 conduct that constituted the violation on behalf of the 24 minor. 25 (f) If a court in any civil action brought pursuant to this 26Section finds that a health care provider knowingly violated HB4482- 9 -LRB104 14836 AAS 27980 b 1Section 20, then the court shall notify the appropriate 2regulatory authority and the Attorney General by mailing a 3certified copy of the court's order to the regulatory 4authority and the Attorney General. Notification pursuant to 5this subsection (f) shall be made upon a final judgment of the 6court. 7 (g) For purposes of this Section, compensatory damages may 8include the following: 9 (1) Reasonable economic losses caused by the 10 emotional, mental, or physical effects of the violation, 11 including, but not limited to: 12 (A) the cost of counseling, hospitalization, and 13 any other medical expenses connected with treating the 14 harm caused by the violation; 15 (B) any out-of-pocket costs of the minor paid to 16 the health care provider for the prohibited medical 17 procedure; and 18 (C) any loss of income caused by the violation; 19 and 20 (2) Noneconomic damages caused by the violation, 21 including, but not limited to, psychological and emotional 22 anguish. 23 (h) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, an action 24commenced under this Section must be brought within 30 years 25from the date the minor reaches 18 years of age or within 10 26years of the minor's death if the minor dies. HB4482- 10 -LRB104 14836 AAS 27980 b 1 (i) This Section is declared to be remedial in nature and 2this Section must be liberally construed to effectuate its 3purposes. 4 (j) If this Section or its application to any person or 5circumstance is held invalid, then the invalidity does not 6affect other provisions or applications of this Act that can 7be given effect without this Section or application, and to 8that end, this Section is severable. 9 Section 30. Attorney General's right of action. 10 (a) The Attorney General shall establish a process by 11which violations of Section 20 may be reported. 12 (b) The Attorney General may bring an action against a 13health care provider that knowingly violated Section 20, 14within 20 years of the violation, to enjoin further 15violations, disgorge any profits received due to the medical 16procedure, and recover a civil penalty of $25,000 per 17violation. 18 (c) A civil penalty collected pursuant to this Section 19must be paid into the General Revenue Fund. 20 (d) The Attorney General is entitled to reasonable 21attorney's fees, court costs, and expenses if the Attorney 22General prevails in an action brought pursuant to this 23Section. 24 Section 35. Health care provider licensing sanctions. A HB4482- 11 -LRB104 14836 AAS 27980 b 1violation of Section 20 constitutes a potential threat to 2public health, safety, and welfare and emergency action shall 3be taken by an alleged violator's appropriate regulatory 4authority. 5 Section 40. Minor immunity. A minor upon whom a medical 6procedure is performed or administered must not be held liable 7for violating Section 20.