Federal lawsuit right for gender-transition harm; retroactive, punitive, 30-year window.

What it does

This bill creates a federal civil lawsuit right against pediatric gender clinics, medical practitioners, hospitals, and universities affiliated with such clinics for any bodily injury or mental health harm a minor alleges resulted from gender-transition procedures (puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or surgery). Plaintiffs can sue for compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorney's fees up to 30 years after turning 18. The bill also bars all federal funding to these clinics and to any procedure performed on minors. It applies retroactively to procedures performed before enactment.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is twofold: (1) creation of a federal tort with punitive damages and a 30-year statute of limitations, and (2) a blanket federal funding prohibition. Both are liability/funding restrictions, not a substantive policy on medical practice itself. The bill does not ban the procedures — it makes them civilly actionable and unfunded.

What the text implies

• Retroactive application exposes providers to liability for procedures performed before enactment, potentially creating massive settlements for decisions made under prior legal standards.
• Broad affiliate liability (hospitals, universities, funding partners) may hold institutions responsible for independent practitioners' decisions, chilling institutional support for gender-dysphoria care.
• Punitive damages (not capped) combined with 30-year statute of limitations creates open-ended financial exposure, potentially bankrupting smaller clinics and deterring new providers.
• Federal funding bar applies to any institution 'affiliated with' a gender clinic, potentially defunding entire hospital systems or universities if any department provides such care.
• Affirmative defense (clinic 'did not know and had no reason to know' patient was a minor) is narrow and places burden on defendant; parental consent or age verification may not suffice.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

The bill creates a new legal remedy for minors who claim harm from gender-transition procedures, potentially protecting vulnerable youth from treatments they later regret. However, the retroactive application, broad liability (including affiliated institutions), and punitive-damages provision may chill legitimate medical practice, reduce access to mental-health care for transgender youth, and expose hospitals and universities to massive liability for decisions made by independent practitioners —

Who stands to gain

• plaintiff's attorneys (contingency-fee litigation)
• medical malpractice insurers (increased claims)

Named in the bill

pediatric gender clinics, medical practitioners, hospitals, institutions of higher education, U.S. district courts, state courts

Where it stands

1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.

• Jul 22, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Jul 22, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce and House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and…”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $439,908 in lobbying spend. A filing names 132 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.

W. Steube, the sponsor, reported $624,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Human Rights Campaign — $439,908 on 2 filings

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 17, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.