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To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to disqualify any State that discriminates against parents or guardians who oppose medical, surgical, pharmacological, psychological treatment, or clothing and social changes related to affirming the subjective claims of gender identity expressed by any minor if such claimed identity is inconsistent with such minor's biological sex from receiving funding under such Act.
Summary
This bill would amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to make states ineligible for federal funding under that program if they take adverse action or discriminate against parents or guardians who oppose medical, surgical, pharmacological, or psychological treatment related to gender identity in minors. The bill defines as prohibited discrimination any state action against parents who oppose social changes such as name, pronoun use, or clothing changes related to gender identity claims or expressions, when that identity differs from the minor's biological sex. The bill provides an enforcement mechanism allowing parents or guardians who claim they experienced discrimination to bring civil actions in federal or state court to stop HHS from funding the state and require return of previously awarded funds.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN] (R-IN)
2 cosponsors
- Sen. Cotton, Tom [R-AR] (R-AR)
- Sen. Hawley, Josh [R-MO] (R-MO)
Actions (2)
- Mar 5, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. · senate
- Mar 5, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 5, 2025
Mr. Banks (for himself, Mr. Cotton, and Mr. Hawley) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to disqualify any State that discriminates against parents or guardians who oppose medical, surgical, pharmacological, psychological treatment, or clothing and social changes related to affirming the subjective claims of gender identity expressed by any minor if such claimed identity is inconsistent with such minor’s biological sex from receiving funding under such Act.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Guaranteeing Unalienable and Anatomical Rights for Dependents Act” or the “GUARD Act”.
SEC. 2. STATE GRANT REQUIREMENTS.
The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 3 the following:
“SEC. 4. STATE GRANT REQUIREMENTS.
“(a) In General.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no State may receive funding under this Act if such State takes any adverse action or otherwise discriminates against parents, guardians, or legal representatives who oppose medical, surgical, pharmacological, psychological treatment, or other medical intervention, or clothing, name or pronoun use, or other social changes or practices related to transitioning to or affirming the claims or expressions of gender identity of any minor under the charge, care, or supervision of the parent, guardian, or legal representative, if such gender identity is inconsistent, in such parent’s, guardian’s, or legal representative’s estimation, with such minor’s biological sex, as determined definitively at or before birth, regardless of any medical diagnosis or indication of gender dysphoria, body dysphoria, dissociative identity disorder, or social anxiety disorder.
“(b) Enforcement.—In the case of an award made by the Secretary under this Act in violation of subsection (a), any parent, guardian, or legal representative who experienced an adverse action or other discrimination described in subsection (a) by a State receiving funding under this Act may bring an action, in an appropriate Federal district court of the United States or State court, against the Department of Health and Human Services, seeking to enjoin the Secretary from continuing such award to such State and to require the State awarded amounts in violation of subsection (a) to return such funds to the Treasury.”. <all>
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