Sponsors (45)
The bill increases protection for minors by criminalizing non-consensual or non-medical genital surgeries and chemical castration while also creating legal risks, uncertainty, and potential care disruptions for providers, families, and some patients.
Minors (children and youth) are better protected because the bill creates a federal criminal penalty (up to 10 years) for non-consensual or non-medical genital surgeries and chemical castration.
Medically necessary care for minors (including childbirth-related interventions) is preserved because the bill carves out exceptions for procedures performed by licensed practitioners.
Minors who have undergone covered procedures will not be arrested or prosecuted, reducing risk of criminalizing victims.
Healthcare providers face criminal exposure and uncertainty because narrow medical-necessity exceptions and unclear qualifying diagnoses (e.g., intersex or hormone conditions) could make lawful care risky, likely deterring providers and prompting defensive medicine.
Parents, caregivers, or others who consent to, authorize, or transport minors for covered procedures could face federal criminal charges, exposing families to serious legal risk.
Transgender minors seeking gender-affirming treatments and their providers may lose access to care or face criminal liability when treatments do not clearly meet the bill's narrow medical-necessity exceptions.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a federal crime banning genital/bodily mutilation and chemical castration of minors, with penalties and specified medical and biological exceptions.
Creates a new federal crime for knowingly performing or attempting to perform genital or bodily mutilation or chemical castration on a person under 18, with penalties up to 10 years in prison, fines, or both. The prohibition also covers facilitating, consenting to, or transporting a minor for female genital mutilation, removes a religious-or-custom defense, and bars prosecuting the victim. The law applies only when specified federal-jurisdiction or interstate-commerce connections exist, and it includes medical and biological exceptions (licensed medical procedures, childbirth-related care, certain intersex or chromosomal/hormonal conditions, imminent danger to major bodily function, and treatment for precocious puberty). It defines covered procedures, drugs, and key terms, and updates the criminal code table of sections accordingly.
Official title: Protect Children’s Innocence Act
Introduced May 19, 2025 by Marjorie Taylor Greene · Last progress December 18, 2025