Sponsors (59)
The bill increases avenues for victims to seek federal redress and holds providers more accountable for certain pediatric interventions, but does so at the cost of significant legal and financial risks that are likely to reduce provider availability, restrict access to gender‑affirming care for minors, and spur increased nationwide litigation and costs.
Children subjected to covered interventions (or their parents) can bring federal suits for compensatory, non‑economic (emotional distress, pain and suffering) and potentially punitive damages, with prohibitions on contractual waivers — expanding accountability and avenues for redress against providers and institutions.
The bill clarifies which medical interventions are restricted and explicitly preserves access to medically necessary treatment for disorders of sex development and acute life‑threatening conditions, while protecting clinicians’ ability to inform families about options without being treated as having 'participated'.
People subjected to covered interventions as children get extended filing windows (up to 25 years after turning 18 or tied to detransition treatment expenses), allowing those who discover harms later to seek compensation.
Transgender minors will lose access to common puberty‑blocking, hormone, and surgical gender‑affirming treatments and may face further reduced availability as providers avoid offering controversial pediatric interventions.
Health care providers, hospitals, and clinics face substantial retroactive and strict liability exposure and the prospect of large damage awards, which is likely to raise malpractice insurance costs, prompt defensive medicine, and lead some providers or institutions to limit services.
Broad federal jurisdictional hooks combined with extended limitations periods will likely spur nationwide litigation, increasing legal costs for patients, insurers, and taxpayers and adding caseload pressure on federal courts.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Introduced February 23, 2026 by Robert F. Onder · Last progress February 23, 2026
Creates a federal private right of action allowing people who were given certain medical interventions as children — or their parents/guardians — to sue health care professionals, hospitals, or clinics for damages. The law defines the covered interventions (including puberty blockers, cross‑sex hormones, and surgeries), sets out exceptions for specific medical conditions, makes liability available retroactively and prospectively, and extends the time to file claims tied to the age of the claimant or the timing of detransition treatment costs. Imposes strict liability for covered interventions performed after enactment unless a provider proves a listed exception by clear and convincing evidence, allows compensatory, non‑economic, and punitive damages (punitive only on a high proof standard), establishes federal jurisdictional bases, bans waiver of liability, and includes rules on how courts should interpret ambiguities and prior standards of care.