Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., introduced the "Protect Children’s Innocence Act" on Friday, which would outlaw gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth and make providing such care a felony.
According to The Hill, the bill makes illegal more than a dozen medical therapies and procedures used to treat gender dysphoria in children, including hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and surgeries performed "for the purpose of changing the body ... to correspond to a sex that differs from their biological sex."
Federal funds for gender-affirming healthcare would also be prohibited, including Affordable Care Act insurance plans, under Greene's measure.
"When it comes to 'gender-affirming care,' which is really child abuse, this is actually an assault and it's child abuse," Greene said on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Thursday.
"This practice should never happen," Greene said. "It's so disgusting and appalling … this needs to be illegal."
Anyone who "knowingly performs any gender-affirming care on a minor" would be guilty of a class C felony, punishable by 10 to 25 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000, Greene's office said.
Greene's bill is similar to a law passed in Alabama earlier this year that makes it a felony for doctors or others to help transgender people younger than 19 access gender-affirming medical care, according to The Hill. Violations of the Alabama law are punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
In May, a federal judge ruled that Alabama had not presented any credible evidence that gender-affirming care is "experimental" and partially blocked state officials from enforcing the law, the news outlet reports. The judge also ruled that parents are the primary caregivers for their children, not the states or the federal courts.
Lawyers for the state have appealed the decision.
Higher education institutions would also be barred from providing instruction on gender-affirming care, under the measure, and doctors who have provided such care to a minor would be blocked from receiving visas or entering the U.S.
The legislation currently has 11 GOP cosponsors, according to The Hill, and Greene tweeted on Friday that Republican Senate candidates J.D. Vance of Ohio and Blake Masters of Arizona have pledged to support her bill if they are elected.
House Republicans have begun to embrace the transgender culture war battles, with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy promising to advance a bill that bans transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports if the GOP wins the majority in the House in November.
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