HR 3688
Protecting Children from Experimentation Act of 2025
Take action
Record your position on this measure.
Sign in to record your position, submit testimony, or contact your legislator.
Sign in to take action- Introduced
- Passed House
- Passed Senate
- To President
- Became Law
Bill overview
The Protecting Children from Experimentation Act of 2025 prohibits gender transition procedures on minors. It criminalizes healthcare professionals who knowingly perform these procedures on individuals under 18, with penalties including fines and imprisonment. The bill establishes a civil action option for individuals affected by such procedures and defines key terms related to gender transition and related medical interventions. It includes specific exclusions for certain medical treatments and conditions.
Key provisions
- Prohibits gender transition procedures on minors (defined as under 18).
- Criminalizes healthcare professionals who perform these procedures without specific exceptions.
- Establishes a civil action option for individuals affected by prohibited procedures.
- Defines key terms such as ‘gender transition,’ ‘gender transition procedure,’ ‘female,’ and ‘male.’
- Includes exclusions for treatments related to disorders of sex development, certain medical conditions, and puberty suppression for precocious puberty.
- Excludes male circumcision from the definition of gender transition procedures.
- Specifies that the procedures must occur in interstate or foreign commerce, or through means of interstate commerce, to trigger penalties.
Who is affected
- Minors (individuals under 18)
- Healthcare professionals (doctors, surgeons, etc.)
- Parents or legal guardians of minors
- Individuals who undergo gender transition procedures
Sponsors
Official sponsors from legislative records.
Primary sponsor
Doug LaMalfa
Cosponsors
Arguments in favor
Reasons to support this legislation.
No arguments in favor have been submitted.
Submit yoursArguments opposed
Reasons to oppose this legislation.
No arguments opposed have been submitted.
Submit yoursRead the latest version inline or switch to a previous version.
119th CONGRESS — 1st Session
H. R. 3688
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
A BILL
To amend chapter 110 of title 18, United States Code, to prohibit gender transition procedures on minors, and for other purposes.
This Act may be cited as the Protecting Children from Experimentation Act of 2025
.
Chapter 110 of title 18, United States Code, is amended—
by adding at the end the following:
Any physical or mental health care professional who, under the circumstances described in subsection (d), knowingly performs or otherwise aids and abets the performance of a gender transition procedure on a minor shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.
No person on whom the gender transition procedure under subsection (a) is performed may be arrested or prosecuted for an offense under this section.
A person on whom a gender transition procedure is performed under this section may bring a civil action for appropriate relief against each person who performed the gender transition procedure.
For purposes of subsection (a), the circumstances described in this subsection are that—
the defendant or minor 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 conduct described in subsection (a);
the defendant used a means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce in furtherance of or in connection with the conduct described in subsection (a);
any payment of any kind was made, directly or indirectly, in furtherance of or in connection with the conduct described in subsection (a) using any means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce;
the defendant transmitted in interstate or foreign commerce any communication relating to or in furtherance of the conduct described in subsection (a) 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 manner, including by computer, mail, wire, or electromagnetic transmission;
any instrument, item, substance, or other object that has traveled in interstate or foreign commerce was used to perform the conduct described in subsection (a);
the conduct described in subsection (a) occurred within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, or any territory or possession of the United States; or
the conduct described in subsection (a) otherwise occurred in or affected interstate or foreign commerce.
In this section:
The term female
, when used to refer to a natural person, means an individual who naturally has, had, will have, or would have, but for a congenital anomaly, historical accident, or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes eggs for fertilization.
The term gender transition
means the process in which an individual goes from identifying with or presenting as his or her sex to identifying with or presenting a self-proclaimed identity that does not correspond with or is different from his or her sex, and may be accompanied with social, legal, or physical changes.
The term gender transition procedure
means any hormonal or surgical intervention for the purpose of gender transition, including—
gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists or other puberty-blocking or suppressing drugs to stop or delay normal puberty;
testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, or other androgens to an individual at doses that are supraphysiologic to what would normally be produced endogenously in a healthy individual of the same age and sex;
castration;
orchiectomy;
scrotoplasty;
implantation of erection or testicular prostheses;
vasectomy;
hysterectomy;
oophorectomy;
ovariectomy;
reconstruction of the fixed part of the urethra with or without a metoidioplasty or a phalloplasty;
metoidioplasty;
penectomy;
phalloplasty;
vaginoplasty;
clitoroplasty;
vaginectomy;
vulvoplasty;
reduction thyrochondroplasty;
chondrolaryngoplasty;
mastectomy;
tubal ligation;
sterilization;
any plastic, cosmetic, or aesthetic surgery that feminizes or masculinizes the facial or other physiological features of an individual;
any placement of chest implants to create feminine breasts;
any placement of fat or artificial implants in the gluteal region;
augmentation mammoplasty;
liposuction;
lipofilling;
voice surgery;
hair reconstruction;
pectoral implants; and
the removal of any otherwise healthy or non-diseased body part or tissue.
The term gender transition procedure
does not include the following when furnished to an individual by a health care provider with the consent of such individual or, if applicable, such individual’s parents or legal guardian:
Services to individuals born with a medically verifiable disorder of sex development, including an individual with external sex characteristics that are irresolvably ambiguous, such as an individual born with 46 XX chromosomes with virilization, an individual born with 46 XY chromosomes with undervirilization, or an individual born having both ovarian and testicular tissue.
Services provided when a physician has otherwise diagnosed a disorder of sexual development in which the physician has determined through genetic or biochemical testing that the individual does not have normal sex chromosome structure, sex steroid hormone production, or sex steroid hormone action for a healthy individual of the same sex and age.
The treatment of any infection, injury, disease, or disorder that has been caused by or exacerbated by the performance of gender transition procedures, whether or not the gender transition procedure was performed in accordance with State and Federal law or whether or not funding for the gender transition procedure is permissible under this section.
Any procedure undertaken because the individual suffers from a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness (but not mental, behavioral, or emotional distress or a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder) that would, as certified by a physician, place the individual in imminent danger of death or impairment of major bodily function, unless the procedure is performed.
Puberty suppression or blocking prescription drugs for the purpose of normalizing puberty for a minor experiencing precocious puberty.
Male circumcision.
The term male
, when used to refer to a natural person, means an individual who naturally has, had, will have, or would have, but for a congenital anomaly, historical accident, or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes sperm for fertilization.
The term minor
means an individual under the age of 18.
The term sex
, when referring to an individual’s sex, means to refer to either male or female, as biologically determined.
by amending the table of sections for such chapter by adding at the end the following: