[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 48 (Tuesday, March 17, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1144-S1145]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 4457. Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself and Mr. Tuberville) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 4420 proposed by Mr.
Thune (for Mr. Schmitt) to the bill S. 1383, to establish the Veterans
Advisory Committee on Equal Access, and for other purposes; which was
ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Strike title III and insert the following:
TITLE III--SAVE AMERICAN CHILDREN
SEC. 301. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ``Chloe Cole Act''.
SEC. 302. DEFINITIONS.
In this title:
(1) Child.--The term ``child'' means an individual under 18
years of age.
(2) Covered interventions.--
(A) In general.--
(i) Interventions.--The term ``covered interventions''
means providing any of the items and services described in
clause (ii) for the purpose of--
(I) intentionally delaying, halting, or disrupting the
natural development of the individual's body, including the
onset or progression of puberty, so that it does not develop
or halts developing to correspond to the individual's sex; or
(II) intentionally changing the individual's body,
including the individual's external appearance or biological
functions, to no longer correspond to the individual's sex.
(ii) Items and services.--The items and services described
in this clause are--
(I) the use of puberty blockers, including gonadotropin
releasing hormone agonists and antagonists;
(II) the use of sex hormones, such as androgen blockers,
estrogen, anti-estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, or
dihydrotestosterone blockers; and
(III) surgical procedures that attempt to transform an
individual's physical appearance or that attempt to alter or
remove an individual's sexual organs.
(B) Exclusions.--The term ``covered interventions'' does
not include any of the following:
(i) Appropriate and medically necessary procedures to treat
a verifiable disorder of sexual development, including an
individual born with 46 XX chromosomes with virilization,
with 46 XY chromosomes with undervirilization, or having both
ovarian and testicular tissue.
(ii) The treatment of any infection, injury, disease, or
disorder that has been caused or exacerbated by the
performance of an intervention described in subparagraph (A)
without regard to whether the intervention was performed in
accordance with State or Federal law or whether the
intervention is covered by the private right of action under
section 304.
(iii) Any intervention undertaken because the individual
suffers from any diagnosed and verifiable condition of the
body's organ systems, including the following:
(I) Traumatic bodily injuries (such as fractures, organ
rupture, or penetrating trauma).
(II) Congenital structural anomalies of major organs or
systems, including the cardiovascular, respiratory, renal,
hepatic, neurological, or musculoskeletal systems.
(III) Acute illnesses with a high probability of rapid
mortality.
(3) Detransition treatment.--The term ``detransition
treatment'' means any treatment, medical intervention, or
surgery, that stops, reverses the effects of, or aids in the
recovery from the effects of, a prior covered intervention.
(4) Health care professional.--The term ``health care
professional'' means an individual who is licensed,
certified, or otherwise authorized by the laws of a State to
administer health care in the ordinary course of the practice
of his or her profession or performing such acts which
require such licensure.
(5) Participate.--The term ``participate'', with respect to
acts constituting a covered intervention as defined in
paragraph (1), means directly engaging in the planning,
authorization, prescription, administration, or performance
of any such act, including any of the following:
(A) Prescribing puberty blockers, sex hormones, or related
medications with the intent to delay, halt, or interrupt an
individual's puberty or to alter an individual's physical
appearance or reproductive function to align with an identity
differing from his or her sex.
(B) Administering medications or treatments described in
subparagraph (A) with such intent, whether by injection, oral
delivery, or other means.
(C) Performing surgical procedures that attempt to
transform an individual's appearance to no longer correspond
to the individual's sex as part of a covered intervention.
(D) Authorizing or directing such covered intervention as a
supervising health care professional or institutional
representative.
(E) Knowingly planning or coordinating the provision of
treatments or procedures described above in subparagraph (A),
(C), or (D) with the intent to facilitate a covered
intervention.
(6) Sex.--The term ``sex'' means a person's immutable
biological classification, determined at the moment of
conception, as either male or female, as follows:
(A) The term ``female'' is a person who naturally has, had,
will have, or would have but for a congenital anomaly or
intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive
system that produces, transports, and utilizes the large
gamete (ova) for fertilization.
(B) The term ``male'' is a person who naturally has, had,
will have, or would have but for a congenital anomaly or
intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive
system that produces, transports, and utilizes the small
gamete (sperm) for fertilization.
[[Page S1145]]
SEC. 303. PROHIBITION ON COVERED INTERVENTIONS.
(a) In General.--No health care professional, hospital, or
clinic shall, in a circumstance described in subsection (b),
participate in a covered intervention on a child, and a
health care professional, hospital, or clinic may commence
participation in a treatment that qualifies as an exception
specified in clauses (i) through (iii) of section 302(1)(B)
only after determining that clear and convincing evidence
supports a determination that the treatment so qualifies.
(b) Circumstances Described.--The circumstances described
in this subsection are that--
(1) the defendant or child traveled in interstate or
foreign commerce, or traveled using a means, channel,
facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign
commerce, in furtherance of or in connection with the
participation in the covered intervention;
(2) the defendant used a means, channel, facility, or
instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce in
furtherance of or in connection with the participation in the
covered intervention;
(3) any payment of any kind was made, directly or
indirectly, in furtherance of or in connection with the
participation in the covered intervention using any means,
channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or
foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign
commerce;
(4) the defendant transmitted in interstate or foreign
commerce any communication relating to or in furtherance of
the participation in the covered intervention using any
means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or
foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign
commerce by any means or in any manner, including by
computer, mail, wire, or electromagnetic transmission;
(5) any instrument, item, substance, or other object that
has traveled in interstate or foreign commerce was used to
perform the covered intervention;
(6) the covered intervention occurred within the District
of Columbia, the special maritime and territorial
jurisdiction of the United States, or any territory or
possession of the United States; or
(7) the covered intervention otherwise occurred in or
affected interstate or foreign commerce.
SEC. 304. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.
(a) In General.--An individual subjected as a child to a
covered intervention prohibited by section 303, or the
parents or legal guardians of such individual, may bring a
civil action in an appropriate district court of the United
States for damages against any health care professional,
hospital, or clinic, who participates in the covered
intervention on that child. Such a cause of action shall be
available regardless of whether the alleged covered
intervention occurred before, on, or after the date of
enactment of this Act.
(b) Damages.--Damages available pursuant to such an action
may include--
(1) compensatory damages, including all economic damages
associated with undoing, correcting, or ameliorating the
effects or results of any covered intervention;
(2) non-economic damages for emotional distress and pain
and suffering; and
(3) punitive damages, if the claimant proves by clear and
convincing evidence that the defendant against whom punitive
damages are sought acted maliciously, intentionally,
fraudulently, or recklessly.
(c) Strict Liability.--Any health care professional,
hospital, or clinic whose participation in a covered
intervention on a child after the date of enactment of this
Act is proven by clear and convincing evidence shall be
strictly liable for damages for any such intervention. If a
treatment qualifies under an exception specified in clauses
(i) through (iii) of section 302(2)(B), and that is raised as
an affirmative defense to a violation of this title, the
health care professional, hospital, or clinic shall bear the
burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that such
exception applies.
SEC. 305. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.
In this title:
(1) No liability for a health care professional under these
provisions may be waived.
(2) Any ambiguities shall be resolved against any party
found to have engaged in participation, as defined in section
302(5), in the covered intervention on a child.
(3) In any cases in which a covered intervention on a child
is shown to have occurred before the date of enactment of
this Act, there is limited deference to prevailing standards
of care to the extent that such standards contradict the
intent of this title and it is shown that the health care
professional knew or should have known that such standards of
care were in serious, scientific, and medical dispute at the
time of the covered intervention.
(4) Nothing in this title shall be construed to prohibit a
health care professional from providing information about all
available treatment options, discussing risks and benefits,
or expressing professional medical opinions, so long as such
actions do not constitute participation in a covered
intervention.
SEC. 306. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.
An action under section 304 may be brought within 25 years
from the date of the eighteenth birthday of an individual
subjected to a covered intervention as a child or within 4
years from the time the cost of a detransition treatment is
incurred, whichever date is later.
SEC. 307. SEVERABILITY.
If any provision of this title, or the application of such
a provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be
unconstitutional, the remainder of this title, and the
application of the provision held to be unconstitutional to
any other person or circumstance, shall not be affected.
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