Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) says she will introduce a bill today to criminalize gender affirming care for transgender minors called the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act.”
“My legislation would immediately make it a felony to subject children to puberty blockers or horrific ‘sex change’ genital surgeries,” she tweeted.
Gender affirming surgery is not performed on minors, but rightwing extremists have been saying — without evidence — that Boston Children’s Hospital is performing such surgery on young children. Their claims have been rated “false” by fact checkers, but that hasn’t stopped the pediatricians at the hospital from getting death threats.
Puberty blockers, on the other hand, are used in the treatment of transgender youth to hold off the permanent changes of puberty so that young people have more time to understand their gender identities better. The reversible medications have been shown to significantly reduce lifelong suicide risk among transgender people. The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, and other major medical/mental health organizations all support gender-affirming care for pubescent youth when appropriate.
Calling gender affirming care “child abuse,” Greene said on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show that it “should never happen” and “is so disgusting and appalling and it’s an embarrassment to our country.”
“It’s really genital mutilation, it’s puberty blockers that cause chemical castration, teenage girls actually having their breasts chopped off, teenage boys being castrated,” she said. “This needs to be illegal.”
She explained that her bill will make it a class C felony “for any person involved in so-called gender-affirming care,” specifying that that includes puberty blockers and hormone therapy. Federal class C felonies have a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of 25 years in prison.
“These kids are too young to make these awful decisions that will affect them and will be permanent for the rest of their lives,” she said.
The bill has very little chance of passing the Democratic-majority House or being signed by President Joe Biden, and Greene said that she only has five Republican co-sponsors at the moment.
Tomorrow, I will introduce the Protect Children’s Innocence Act to criminalize the child abuse that many call “gender-affirming care.”
My legislation would immediately make it a felony to subject children to puberty blockers or horrific “sex change” genital surgeries. pic.twitter.com/1jAwb1TwXR
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) August 19, 2022
