Text of US HB 5636 (2023)

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5636 To amend chapter 110 of title 18, United States Code, to prohibit gender affirming care on minors. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 21, 2023 Ms. GREENE of Georgia introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend chapter 110 of title 18, United States Code, to prohibit gender affirming care on minors. 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 ‘‘Protect Children’s In- 4 nocence Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. GENDER AFFIRMING CARE ON MINORS PROHIB- 6 ITED. 7 Chapter 110 of title 18, United States Code, is 8 amended— 9 (1) by adding at the end the following: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:28 Sep 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5636.IH H5636 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 5636 IH ‘‘§ 2260B. Gender affirming care for minors 1 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Whoever, in any circumstance 2 described in subsection (e), knowingly performs any gen- 3 der affirming care on a minor is guilty of a class C felony. 4 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION ON PROSECUTION OF PERSON ON 5 WHOM INTERVENTION IS PERFORMED.—No person on 6 whom the gender affirming care under subsection (a) is 7 performed may be arrested or prosecuted for an offense 8 under this section. 9 ‘‘(c) CIVIL ACTION.—A person on whom gender af- 10 firming care is performed under this section may bring 11 a civil action for appropriate relief, including compen- 12 satory and punitive damages, against each person who 13 performed the gender affirming care. 14 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 15 ‘‘(1) GENDER AFFIRMING CARE.— 16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this 17 chapter, except as provided in subparagraph 18 (B), the term ‘gender affirming care’ means, 19 with respect to an individual, any of the fol- 20 lowing: 21 ‘‘(i) Performing any surgery for the 22 purpose of changing the body of such indi- 23 vidual to correspond to a sex that differs 24 from their biological sex, including— 25 ‘‘(I) castration; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:28 Sep 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5636.IH H5636 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 5636 IH ‘‘(II) orchiectomy; 1 ‘‘(III) scrotoplasty; 2 ‘‘(IV) vasectomy; 3 ‘‘(V) hysterectomy; 4 ‘‘(VI) oophorectomy; 5 ‘‘(VII) ovariectomy; 6 ‘‘(VIII) metoidioplasty; 7 ‘‘(IX) penectomy; 8 ‘‘(X) phalloplasty; 9 ‘‘(XI) vaginoplasty; 10 ‘‘(XII) vaginectomy; 11 ‘‘(XIII) vulvoplasty; 12 ‘‘(XIV) reduction 13 thyrochondroplasty; 14 ‘‘(XV) chondrolaryngoplasty; and 15 ‘‘(XVI) mastectomy. 16 ‘‘(ii) Any plastic surgery that femi- 17 nizes or masculinizes the facial features for 18 the purposes described in clause (i). 19 ‘‘(iii) Any placement of chest implants 20 to create feminine breasts for the purposes 21 described in clause (i). 22 ‘‘(iv) Any placement of fat or artificial 23 implants in the gluteal region for the pur- 24 poses described in clause (i). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:28 Sep 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5636.IH H5636 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 5636 IH ‘‘(v) Administering, supplying, pre- 1 scribing, dispensing, distributing, or other- 2 wise conveying to an individual medications 3 for the purposes described in clause (i), in- 4 cluding— 5 ‘‘(I) gonadotropin-releasing hor- 6 mone (GnRH) analogues or other pu- 7 berty-blocking drugs to stop or delay 8 normal puberty; 9 ‘‘(II) testosterone or other 10 androgens to biological females at 11 doses that are supraphysiologic to the 12 female sex; and 13 ‘‘(III) estrogen to biological 14 males at doses that are 15 supraphysiologic to the male sex. 16 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—Subparagraph (A) 17 shall not apply to the following individuals: 18 ‘‘(i) An individual with both ovarian 19 and testicular tissue. 20 ‘‘(ii) An individual with respect to 21 whom a physician has determined through 22 genetic or biochemical testing that the in- 23 dividual does not have normal sex chro- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:28 Sep 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5636.IH H5636 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 5636 IH mosome structure, sex steroid hormone 1 production, or sex steroid hormone action. 2 ‘‘(iii) An individual experiencing infec- 3 tion, disease, injury, or disorder caused or 4 exacerbated by previous gender transition 5 procedures. 6 ‘‘(iv) An individual suffering from a 7 physical disorder, physical injury, or phys- 8 ical illness that would, as certified by a 9 physician, place the individual in imminent 10 danger of death or impairment of a major 11 bodily function unless the procedure is per- 12 formed. 13 ‘‘(2) BIOLOGICAL SEX.—The term ‘biological 14 sex’ means the indication of male or female sex by 15 reproductive potential or capacity, sex chromosomes, 16 naturally occurring sex hormones, gonads, or inter- 17 nal or external genitalia present at birth. 18 ‘‘(3) MINOR.—The term ‘minor’ means any per- 19 son under the age of eighteen years. 20 ‘‘(e) CIRCUMSTANCES DESCRIBED.—For purposes of 21 subsection (a), the circumstances described in this sub- 22 section are that— 23 ‘‘(1) the defendant or victim traveled in inter- 24 state or foreign commerce, or traveled using a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:28 Sep 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5636.IH H5636 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 5636 IH means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of inter- 1 state or foreign commerce, in furtherance of or in 2 connection with the conduct described in subsection 3 (a); 4 ‘‘(2) the defendant used a means, channel, fa- 5 cility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign 6 commerce in furtherance of or in connection with 7 the conduct described in subsection (a); 8 ‘‘(3) any payment of any kind was made, di- 9 rectly or indirectly, in furtherance of or in connec- 10 tion with the conduct described in subsection (a) 11 using any means, channel, facility, or instrumen- 12 tality of interstate or foreign commerce or in or af- 13 fecting interstate or foreign commerce; 14 ‘‘(4) the defendant transmitted in interstate or 15 foreign commerce any communication relating to or 16 in furtherance of the conduct described in subsection 17 (a) using any means, channel, facility, or instrumen- 18 tality of interstate or foreign commerce or in or af- 19 fecting interstate or foreign commerce by any means 20 or in manner, including by computer, mail, wire, or 21 electromagnetic transmission; 22 ‘‘(5) any instrument, item, substance, or other 23 object that has traveled in interstate or foreign com- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:28 Sep 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5636.IH H5636 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 5636 IH merce was used to perform the conduct described in 1 subsection (a); 2 ‘‘(6) the conduct described in subsection (a) oc- 3 curred within the special maritime and territorial ju- 4 risdiction of the United States, or any territory or 5 possession of the United States; or 6 ‘‘(7) the conduct described in subsection (a) 7 otherwise occurred in or affected interstate or for- 8 eign commerce. 9 ‘‘(f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 10 tion shall be construed as prohibiting provision of the med- 11 ical services described in subsection (d)(1)(A) to address 12 legitimate health issues, such as any male or female repro- 13 ductive cancers, apart from changing the body to cor- 14 respond to a sex that differs from one’s biological sex.’’; 15 and 16 (2) by amending the table of sections for such 17 chapter by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘2260B. Gender affirming care on minors.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:28 Sep 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5636.IH H5636 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB