Republican Lawmaker Introduces Bill to Ban Gender-Related Medical Procedures for Minors

A Republican congressman is partnering with a prominent detransitioner to introduce federal legislation aimed at blocking gender-related medical procedures for minors. The Chloe Cole Act, being introduced Monday, would establish protections for children and allow legal recourse against medical professionals who perform such treatments.

Rep. Bob Onder (R-Mo.), a physician by training, is spearheading the bill. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Onder explained that the legislation would not only prohibit certain gender-related treatments for minors but would also empower children and parents to hold medical professionals accountable through the courts.

“We know that in the last 15 years, the transgender movement has convinced tens of thousands of boys and girls that they are born in the wrong body,” Onder said. “And then a chain of transgender clinics has exploited these kids for the ideology and for the profit and really done permanent damage to the health of those kids with wrong sex hormones, puberty blockers and even mutilating surgeries.”

The legislation follows a January 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.” That order encouraged lawmakers to create legislation giving children and parents a private right of action against medical professionals who perform gender-related procedures on minors.

Chloe Cole, the bill’s namesake, has become one of the nation’s most recognized advocates for detransitioning after undergoing medical procedures as a minor that she later came to regret. Cole told Fox News Digital that the legislation represents “a vital step in our mission to ensure that no minor in America ever endures the kind of lasting, irreparable damage I experienced.”

“While we’ve made significant strides in raising awareness and enacting protections in recent years, the fight is far from over,” Cole said. “Too many children remain at risk of irreversible harm from puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures pushed on them before they can fully understand the consequences.”

Advocates for the bill point to recent legal developments as evidence of growing concerns about gender-related procedures for minors. Earlier this year, a New York jury awarded $2 million to Fox Varian, a 22-year-old who sued a plastic surgeon for performing a double mastectomy on her when she was a teenager. Varian, who was born female and identified as male before detransitioning, claimed the 2019 procedure left her disfigured.

The legislation enters a contentious medical and policy landscape. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and several other major medical organizations have previously expressed support for providing gender-affirming care to transgender adolescents. In a 2023 statement, the AAP said it “opposes any laws or regulations that discriminate against transgender and gender-diverse individuals, or that interfere in the doctor-patient relationship.”

Both Onder and Cole expressed concern about what they describe as pressure tactics used by some medical professionals. Onder claimed parents are often told their children might harm themselves if denied these procedures.

“Those parents are being lied to,” Onder said. “The words I hear quoted over and over again, by Chloe, by Luka Hein, by others, is that their parents were told, ‘Would you rather have a live son or a dead daughter?’ implying that the risk of suicide is approaching 100%, but nothing could be further from the truth. That is an utter lie.”

Cole echoed these concerns in a recent op-ed, writing: “There are so many other young people like us. We were lied to by doctors, nurses and therapists when we were vulnerable and confused children. They did irreversible harm to our bodies and minds, making a mockery of the medical profession.”

Onder, who brings both medical and legislative credentials to the issue, characterized the industry behind gender-related medical procedures as potentially motivated by ideology or profit. “Parents are being lied to, the transgender clinics and the transgender doctors are making off with a lot of money. It’s really a despicable development in American medicine,” he said.

The bill comes amid a broader national debate about appropriate medical care for transgender youth, with numerous states having already passed restrictions on gender-affirming treatments for minors in recent years.