Chloe Cole Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5483 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5483

   To prohibit health care professionals, hospitals, or clinics from
participating in the chemical or surgical mutilation of a child and to
   provide a private right of action for children and the parents of
    children whose healthy body parts have been damaged by medical
       professionals practicing chemical and surgical mutilation.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 18, 2025

    Mr. Onder (for himself, Mr. Carter of Georgia, Mr. Murphy, Mr.
 McCormick, Mr. Fleischmann, Mr. Weber of Texas, Mr. Moore of Alabama,
Mr. Baird, Mr. Gill of Texas, Mr. Rose, Mr. Moore of West Virginia, Mr.
 Taylor, Mr. Simpson, Mrs. Biggs of South Carolina, Mr. Crenshaw, Mr.
  Harris of Maryland, Mr. Harrigan, Mr. Aderholt, Mr. Ogles, and Mr.
   Collins) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

   To prohibit health care professionals, hospitals, or clinics from
participating in the chemical or surgical mutilation of a child and to
   provide a private right of action for children and the parents of
    children whose healthy body parts have been damaged by medical
       professionals practicing chemical and surgical mutilation.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Chloe Cole Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Chemical or surgical mutilation.--
                    (A) In general.--The term ``chemical or surgical
                mutilation'' means engaging in any one or more of the
                following for the purpose of intentionally halting the
                natural development of the individual's body so that it
                no longer corresponds to the individual's sex or
                intentionally changing the individual's body, including
                the individual's external appearance or biological
                functions, to no longer correspond to the individual's
                sex:
                            (i) The use of puberty blockers, including
                        gonadotropin releasing hormone agonists and
                        other interventions, to delay the onset or
                        progression of normally timed puberty in an
                        individual.
                            (ii) The use of sex hormones, such as
                        androgen blockers, estrogen, progesterone, or
                        testosterone.
                            (iii) Surgical procedures that attempt to
                        transform an individual's physical appearance
                        or that attempt to alter or remove an
                        individual's sexual organs.
                    (B) Exclusions.--Such term does not include any of
                the following:
                            (i) Appropriate and medically necessary
                        procedures to treat a verifiable disorder of
                        sexual development, including an individual
                        born with 46 XX chromosomes with virilization,
                        with 46 XY chromosomes with undervirilization,
                        or having both ovarian and testicular tissue.
                            (ii) The treatment of any infection,
                        injury, disease, or disorder that has been
                        caused or exacerbated by the performance of an
                        intervention described in subparagraph (A)
                        without regard to whether the intervention was
                        performed in accordance with State or Federal
                        law or whether the intervention is covered by
                        the private right of action under section 4.
                            (iii) Any intervention undertaken because
                        the individual suffers from any diagnosed and
                        verifiable condition of the body's organ
                        systems, including the following:
                                    (I) Traumatic bodily injuries (such
                                as fractures, organ rupture, or
                                penetrating trauma).
                                    (II) Congenital structural
                                anomalies of major organs or systems,
                                including the cardiovascular,
                                respiratory, renal, hepatic,
                                neurological, or musculoskeletal
                                systems.
                                    (III) Acute illnesses with a high
                                probability of rapid mortality.
                            (iv) Detransition treatment.
            (2) Child.--The term ``child'' means an individual under 18
        years of age.
            (3) Detransition treatment.--The term ``detransition
        treatment'' means any treatment, including a mental health
        treatment, medical intervention, or surgery, that does either
        or both of the following:
                    (A) Stops or reverses the effects of a prior
                chemical or surgical mutilation.
                    (B) Helps an individual cope with the effects of a
                prior chemical or surgical mutilation.
            (4) Health care professional.--The term ``health care
        professional'' means a person, including a physician, who is
        licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized by the laws of a
        State to administer health care in the ordinary course of the
        practice of his or her profession or performing such acts which
        require such licensure.
            (5) Mental health professional.--The term ``mental health
        professional'' means a person who is licensed to diagnose and
        treat mental health conditions in a State.
            (6) Participate.--The term ``participate'', with respect to
        acts constituting chemical or surgical mutilation as defined in
        paragraph (1), means directly engaging in the planning,
        authorization, prescription, administration, or performance of
        any such act, including any of the following:
                    (A) Prescribing puberty blockers, sex hormones, or
                related medications with the intent to alter an
                individual's physical appearance or reproductive
                function to align with an identity differing from his
                or her sex.
                    (B) Administering medications or treatments
                described in subparagraph (A) with such intent, whether
                by injection, oral delivery, or other means.
                    (C) Performing surgical procedures that attempt to
                transform an individual's physical appearance to
                confirm a patient's physical appearance to be of the
                alternate sex, or that alter or remove sexual organs as
                part of chemical or surgical mutilation.
                    (D) Authorizing or directing such chemical or
                surgical mutilation procedures as a supervising health
                care professional or institutional representative.
                    (E) Knowingly planning or coordinating the
                provision of treatments or procedures described above
                in subparagraph (A), (C), or (D) with the intent to
                facilitate chemical or surgical mutilation.
            (7) Sex.--The term ``sex'' means a person's immutable
        biological classification, determined at the moment of
        conception, as either male or female, as follows:
                    (A) The term ``female'' is a person who naturally
                has, had, will have, or would have but for a congenital
                anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the
                reproductive system that produces, transports, and
                utilizes the large gamete (ova) for fertilization.
                    (B) The term ``male'' is a person who naturally
                has, had, will have, or would have but for a congenital
                anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the
                reproductive system that produces, transports, and
                utilizes the small gamete (sperm) for fertilization.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON CHEMICAL OR SURGICAL MUTILATION.

    (a) In General.--No health care professional, hospital, or clinic
shall, in a circumstance described in subsection (b), participate in
the chemical or surgical mutilation of a child, and a health care
professional, hospital, or clinic may commence participation in a
treatment that qualifies as an exception specified in clauses (i)
through (iv) of section 2(1)(B) only after determining that clear and
convincing evidence supports a determination that the treatment so
qualifies.
    (b) Circumstances Described.--The circumstances described in this
subsection are that--
            (1) the defendant or child traveled in interstate or
        foreign commerce, or traveled using a means, channel, facility,
        or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce, in
        furtherance of or in connection with the participation in the
        chemical or surgical mutilation;
            (2) the defendant used a means, channel, facility, or
        instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce in
        furtherance of or in connection with the participation in the
        chemical or surgical mutilation;
            (3) any payment of any kind was made, directly or
        indirectly, in furtherance of or in connection with the
        participation in the chemical or surgical mutilation using any
        means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or
        foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign
        commerce;
            (4) the defendant transmitted in interstate or foreign
        commerce any communication relating to or in furtherance of the
        participation in the chemical or surgical mutilation using any
        means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or
        foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign
        commerce by any means or in any manner, including by computer,
        mail, wire, or electromagnetic transmission;
            (5) any instrument, item, substance, or other object that
        has traveled in interstate or foreign commerce was used to
        perform the chemical or surgical mutilation;
            (6) the chemical or surgical mutilation occurred within the
        District of Columbia, the special maritime and territorial
        jurisdiction of the United States, or any territory or
        possession of the United States; or
            (7) the chemical or surgical mutilation otherwise occurred
        in or affected interstate or foreign commerce.

SEC. 4. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.

    (a) In General.--An individual subjected as a child to chemical or
surgical mutilation prohibited by section 3, or the parents or legal
guardians of such individual, may bring a civil action in an
appropriate district court of the United States for damages against any
health care professional, hospital, or clinic, who participates in the
chemical or surgical mutilation of that child. Such a cause of action
shall be available regardless of whether the alleged chemical or
surgical mutilation occurred before, on, or after the date of enactment
of this Act.
    (b) Damages.--Damages available pursuant to such an action may
include--
            (1) compensatory damages, including all economic damages
        associated with undoing, correcting, or ameliorating the
        effects or results of any chemical or surgical mutilation
        procedures;
            (2) non-economic damages for emotional distress and pain
        and suffering; and
            (3) punitive damages, if the claimant proves by clear and
        convincing evidence that the defendant against whom punitive
        damages are sought acted maliciously, intentionally,
        fraudulently, or recklessly.
    (c) Strict Liability.--Any health care professional, hospital, or
clinic whose participation in the chemical or surgical mutilation of a
child after the date of enactment of this Act is proven by clear and
convincing evidence shall be strictly liable for damages for any such
act of mutilation. If a treatment qualifies under an exception
specified in clauses (i) through (iv) of section 2(1)(B), and that is
raised as an affirmative defense to a violation of this Act, the health
care professional, hospital, or clinic shall bear the burden of proving
by clear and convincing evidence that such exception applies.

SEC. 5. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.

    In this Act:
            (1) No private right of action is established based on
        counseling, referrals to mental health professionals, or
        discussions of treatment options, including counseling,
        referrals, or options available upon reaching adulthood, or in
        circumstances not described in section 3(b), provided by health
        care professionals, or mental health professionals, provided
        that such actions do not constitute participation in chemical
        or surgical mutilation, as defined in section 2.
            (2) No liability for a health care professional under these
        provisions may be waived.
            (3) Any ambiguities shall be resolved against any party
        found to have engaged in participation, as defined in section
        2(6), in the chemical or surgical mutilation of a child.
            (4) In any cases in which chemical or surgical mutilation
        of a child is shown to have occurred before the date of
        enactment of this Act, there is limited deference to prevailing
        standards of care to the extent that such standards contradict
        the intent of this Act and it is shown that the health care
        professional knew or should have known that such standards of
        care were in serious, scientific, and medical dispute at the
        time of the chemical or surgical mutilation.
            (5) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit a
        health care professional or mental health professional from
        providing information about all available treatment options,
        discussing risks and benefits, or expressing professional
        medical opinions, so long as such actions do not constitute
        participation in chemical or surgical mutilation.

SEC. 6. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.

    An action under section 4 may be brought within 25 years from the
date of the eighteenth birthday of an individual subjected to chemical
or surgical mutilation as a child or within 4 years from the time the
cost of a detransition treatment is incurred, whichever date is later.

SEC. 7. SEVERABILITY.

    If any provision of this Act, or the application of such a
provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be
unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, and the application of the
provision held to be unconstitutional to any other person or
circumstance, shall not be affected.
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