Text of US HB 4953 (2025)

I 119TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4953 To authorize a civil right of action for individuals on whom gender-related medical treatment was performed while such individual was a minor, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AUGUST 12, 2025 Ms. MACE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To authorize a civil right of action for individuals on whom gender-related medical treatment was performed while such individual was a minor, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Gender-Affirming 4 Child Abuse Prevention Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. CIVIL RIGHT OF ACTION RELATED TO GENDER-RE- 6 LATED MEDICAL TREATMENT. 7 (a) CIVIL ACTION.— 8 (1) RIGHT OF ACTION.— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Aug 13, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4953.IH H4953 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 4953 IH (A) Except as provided in paragraph (4), 1 an individual on whom gender-affirming care 2 was performed while such individual was a 3 minor, in a circumstance described in para- 4 graph (3) may bring a civil action in an appro- 5 priate district court of the United States 6 against each person who performed the gender- 7 affirming care for relief set forth in paragraph 8 (2). 9 (B) RIGHTS ON BEHALF OF CERTAIN INDI- 10 VIDUALS.—In the case of an individual who is 11 under 18 years of age, incompetent, incapaci- 12 tated, or deceased, the legal guardian of the in- 13 dividual or representative of the individual’s es- 14 tate, another family member, or any other per- 15 son appointed as suitable by the court, may as- 16 sume the individual’s rights under this section. 17 (2) RELIEF.—An individual may recover the ac- 18 tual damages sustained by the individual or liq- 19 uidated damages in the amount of $250,000 for 20 each instance of gender affirming care being per- 21 formed on the individual while such individual was 22 a minor, and the cost of the action, including rea- 23 sonable attorney’s fees and other litigation costs rea- 24 sonably incurred. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Aug 13, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4953.IH H4953 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 4953 IH (3) CIRCUMSTANCES DESCRIBED.—For the pur- 1 poses of paragraph (1), the circumstances described 2 in this paragraph are that— 3 (A) the defendant or victim traveled in 4 interstate or foreign commerce, or traveled 5 using a means, channel, facility, or instrumen- 6 tality of interstate or foreign commerce, in fur- 7 therance of or in connection with the conduct 8 described in paragraph (1); 9 (B) the defendant used a means, channel, 10 facility, or instrumentality of interstate or for- 11 eign commerce in furtherance of or in connec- 12 tion with the conduct described in paragraph 13 (1); 14 (C) any payment of any kind was made, 15 directly or indirectly, in furtherance of or in 16 connection with the conduct described in para- 17 graph (1) using any means, channel, facility, or 18 instrumentality of interstate or foreign com- 19 merce or in or affecting interstate or foreign 20 commerce; 21 (D) the defendant transmitted in interstate 22 or foreign commerce any communication relat- 23 ing to or in furtherance of the conduct de- 24 scribed in paragraph (1) using any means, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Aug 13, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4953.IH H4953 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 4953 IH channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate 1 or foreign commerce or in or affecting inter- 2 state or foreign commerce by any means or in 3 manner, including by computer, mail, wire, or 4 electromagnetic transmission; 5 (E) any instrument, item, substance, or 6 other object that has traveled in interstate or 7 foreign commerce was used to perform the con- 8 duct described in paragraph (1); 9 (F) the conduct described in paragraph (1) 10 occurred within the special maritime and terri- 11 torial jurisdiction of the United States, or any 12 territory or possession of the United States; or 13 (G) the conduct described in paragraph (1) 14 otherwise occurred in or affected interstate or 15 foreign commerce. 16 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 17 (1) GENDER-RELATED MEDICAL TREATMENT.— 18 The term ‘‘gender-related medical treatment’’— 19 (A) means— 20 (i) with respect to a female individual, 21 medical treatments provided for purposes 22 of addressing the perception of such indi- 23 vidual that the gender or sex of such indi- 24 vidual is not female, including— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Aug 13, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4953.IH H4953 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 4953 IH (I) surgical procedures, includ- 1 ing— 2 (aa) vaginectomy; 3 (bb) hysterectomy; 4 (cc) oophorectomy; 5 (dd) reconstruction of the 6 urethra; 7 (ee) metoidioplasty; 8 (ff) phalloplasty; 9 (gg) salpingo-oophorectomy; 10 (hh) scrotoplasty; 11 (ii) implantation of erection 12 or testicular protheses; 13 (jj) subcutaneous mastec- 14 tomy; 15 (kk) vocal cord surgery; 16 (ll) pectoral implants; and 17 (mm) penile transplantation; 18 (II) exogenous doses of testos- 19 terone or other androgens; 20 (III) puberty blockers, includ- 21 ing— 22 (aa) GnRH agonists; and 23 (bb) synthetic drugs that 24 suppress the production of estro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Aug 13, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4953.IH H4953 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 4953 IH gen and progesterone or delay or 1 suppress pubertal development in 2 female individuals; and 3 (IV) such other medical treat- 4 ment, identified by the Secretary of 5 Health and Human Services, that 6 may be provided for purposes of ad- 7 dressing the perception of such indi- 8 vidual that the gender or sex of such 9 individual is not male. 10 (ii) with respect to a male individual, 11 medical treatments provided for purposes 12 of addressing the perception of such indi- 13 vidual that the gender or sex of such indi- 14 vidual is not male, including— 15 (I) surgical procedures, includ- 16 ing— 17 (aa) penectomy; 18 (bb) orchiectomy; 19 (cc) vaginoplasty; 20 (dd) clitoroplasty; 21 (ee) vulvoplasty; 22 (ff) augmentation 23 mammoplasty; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Aug 13, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4953.IH H4953 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 4953 IH (gg) facial feminization sur- 1 gery; 2 (hh) vocal cord surgery; 3 (ii) chondrolaryngoplasty; 4 (jj) gluteal augmentation; 5 and 6 (kk) uterine transplantation; 7 (II) exogenous doses of estrogen; 8 (III) puberty blockers, includ- 9 ing— 10 (aa) GnRH agonists; and 11 (bb) synthetic drugs that 12 suppress the production of testos- 13 terone or delay or suppress pu- 14 bertal development in male indi- 15 viduals; and 16 (IV) such other medical treat- 17 ment, identified by the Secretary of 18 Health and Human Services, that 19 may be provided for purposes of ad- 20 dressing the perception of such indi- 21 vidual that the gender or sex of such 22 individual is not male. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Aug 13, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4953.IH H4953 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 4953 IH (B) does not include any medical treat- 1 ment performed on an individual for the pur- 2 poses of treating— 3 (i) a disorder of sex development, di- 4 agnosed by a physician after such physi- 5 cian has determined through genetic or 6 biochemical testing that such individual 7 does not have normal sex chromosome 8 structure, sex steroid hormone production, 9 or sex steroid hormone action; 10 (ii) irresolvably ambiguous biological 11 sex characteristics of such individual, in- 12 cluding the presence of— 13 (I) 46 XX chromosomes with 14 virilization; 15 (II) 46 XY chromosomes with 16 undervirilization; or 17 (III) both ovarian and testicular 18 tissue; or 19 (iii) an infection, injury, disease, or 20 disorder caused or exacerbated by gender- 21 related medical treatment that was fur- 22 nished to an individual. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Aug 13, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4953.IH H4953 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 4953 IH (2) SEX.—The term ‘‘sex’’ means the biological 1 determination as to whether an individual is male or 2 female, as such terms are defined in this section. 3 (3) GENDER.—The term ‘‘gender’’— 4 (A) means— 5 (i) males, females, or the natural dif- 6 ferences between males and females, unless 7 such term is otherwise specified or used 8 alone (rather than with or as an adjective 9 modifying other words); and 10 (ii) a synonym for sex; and 11 (B) does not mean a synonym for terms or 12 ideas such as gender identity, experienced gen- 13 der, gender expression, or gender roles. 14 (4) FEMALE.—The term ‘‘female’’ means an in- 15 dividual who naturally has, had, will have, or would 16 have, but for a developmental or genetic anomaly or 17 historical accident, the reproductive system that at 18 some point produces, transports, and utilizes eggs 19 for fertilization. 20 (5) MALE.—The term ‘‘male’’ means an indi- 21 vidual who naturally has, had, will have, or would 22 have, but for a developmental or genetic anomaly or 23 historical accident, the reproductive system that at 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Aug 13, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4953.IH H4953 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10 •HR 4953 IH some point produces, transports, and utilizes sperm 1 for fertilization. 2 (6) MINOR.—The term ‘‘minor’’ means an indi- 3 vidual under the age of 18. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Aug 13, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4953.IH H4953 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB