HR 8731 · 117th Congress 2021–2023, ended

Protect Children’s Innocence Act

Latest action · Nov 1, 2022 Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

  1. IntroducedAug 19, 2022
  2. Passed HouseNot reached
  3. Passed SenateNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

Protect Children's Innocence Act

This bill places restrictions on the provision of gender affirming care. Gender affirming care includes performing surgery, administering medication, or performing other procedures for the purpose of changing the body of an individual to correspond to a sex that differs from the individual's biological sex.

Specifically, the bill makes it a felony to perform any gender affirming care on a minor and it permits a minor on whom such care is performed to bring a civil action against each individual who provided the care.

Additionally, the bill prohibits the use of federal funds for gender affirming care or for health insurance that covers such care. Such care may not be provided in a federal health care facility or by a federal employee. The bill also prohibits qualified health plans from including coverage for gender affirming care. Further, plans that include coverage for such care are not eligible for federal subsidies.

Finally, the bill prohibits institutions of higher education from offering instruction in gender affirming care. It also makes any non-U.S. national (alien under federal law) who performs gender affirming care on a minor deportable and inadmissible to the United States.

The restrictions under this bill do not apply to the provision of care under certain circumstances such as when an individual does not have normal sex chromosome structure, sex steroid hormone production, or sex steroid hormone action.

Cosponsors 49

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Aug 19, 2022 to Oct 18, 2022; 12 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
R-GAAndrew S. ClydeOriginalAug 19, 2022
R-VABob GoodOriginalAug 19, 2022
R-UTBurgess OwensOriginalAug 19, 2022
R-NYClaudia TenneyOriginalAug 19, 2022
R-LAClay HigginsOriginalAug 19, 2022
R-TNDiana HarshbargerOriginalAug 19, 2022
R-SCJeff DuncanOriginalAug 19, 2022
R-TXLance GoodenOriginalAug 19, 2022
R-ILMary E. MillerOriginalAug 19, 2022
R-FLMatt GaetzOriginalAug 19, 2022
R-SCRalph NormanOriginalAug 19, 2022
R-TXTony GonzalesOriginalAug 19, 2022
R-INJim BanksAug 23, 2022
R-COLauren BoebertAug 23, 2022
R-AZPaul A. GosarAug 23, 2022
R-TXRonny JacksonAug 23, 2022
R-WIGlenn GrothmanAug 26, 2022
R-TXLouie GohmertAug 26, 2022
R-TXTroy E. NehlsAug 26, 2022
R-PAFred KellerSep 2, 2022
D-NJJefferson Van DrewSep 2, 2022
R-NCMadison CawthornSep 2, 2022
R-FLW. Gregory SteubeSep 6, 2022
R-TXBrian BabinSep 9, 2022
R-MTMatthew M. Rosendale, Sr.Sep 13, 2022
R-TXRandy K. Weber, Sr.Sep 13, 2022
R-ALBarry MooreSep 14, 2022
R-FLByron DonaldsSep 14, 2022
R-TNCharles J. "Chuck" FleischmannSep 14, 2022
R-PADaniel MeuserSep 14, 2022
R-CODoug LambornSep 14, 2022
R-MOVicky HartzlerSep 14, 2022
R-GABarry LoudermilkSep 15, 2022
R-OKKevin HernSep 15, 2022
R-PAGuy ReschenthalerSep 19, 2022
R-KYJames ComerSep 19, 2022
R-KSTracey MannSep 19, 2022
R-MDAndy HarrisSep 20, 2022
R-MNMichelle FischbachSep 20, 2022
R-TXRoger WilliamsSep 20, 2022
R-SCWilliam R. Timmons IVSep 20, 2022
R-ALJerry L. CarlSep 21, 2022
R-NCDavid RouzerSep 28, 2022
R-LAMike JohnsonSep 28, 2022
R-GARick W. AllenSep 28, 2022
R-AZDebbie LeskoOct 7, 2022
R-VABen ClineOct 18, 2022
R-GAJody B. HiceOct 18, 2022
R-TXMichael CloudOct 18, 2022

Committees 4

Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.

ChamberCommitteeWhat it did
HouseJudiciary Committee
Referred Aug 19, 2022
Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Subcommittee
Referred Nov 1, 2022
Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee
Referred Nov 1, 2022
HouseWays and Means Committee
Referred Aug 19, 2022
HouseEnergy and Commerce Committee
Referred Aug 19, 2022
HouseEducation and Workforce Committee
Referred Aug 19, 2022

Actions 4

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. Nov 1, 2022Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.
  2. Nov 1, 2022Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship.
  3. Aug 19, 2022Introduced in House
  4. Aug 19, 2022Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

In the Congressional Record 1

Days the Record’s own index lists this bill, newest first, with the pages and the members it names. Pages starting H are the House, S the Senate, E Extensions of Remarks.

WhereIn the RecordMembersDate
HouseDebate and remarks H8109Louie Gohmert R-TXSep 22, 2022

Research

What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.

Constitutional authority

Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant to the following: Article I, Section 8, United States Constitution

The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 168, no. 137, August 19, 2022, page H7716.

Related bills 3

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

BillTitleRelationshipLatest action
S 777End Taxpayer Funding of Gender Experimentation Act of 2021Related billMar 16, 2021
HR 1399Protect Children’s Innocence ActReintroduced BillDec 17, 2024
HR 1927End Taxpayer Funding of Gender Experimentation Act of 2021Related billMay 18, 2021

Titles 2

Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.

Official Title as Introduced
To amend chapter 110 of title 18, United States Code, to prohibit gender affirming care on minors, and for other purposes.
Short Title(s) as Introduced
Protect Children’s Innocence Act

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Health.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

  1. Aug 19, 2022Introduced in House

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.