H.R. 3492

Protect Children’s Innocence Act

Official summary

Written by the Congressional Research Service.

Protect Children’s Innocence Act of 2025

This bill establishes federal criminal offenses for providing gender-affirming care to minors. The bill also changes the existing federal criminal offense that prohibits female genital mutilation (FGM) and related conduct. 

Specifically, the bill makes it a federal crime to knowingly perform or attempt to perform procedures or provide medications (e.g., hormonal treatments) to a minor for the purpose of changing their body to correspond to a sex that differs from their biological sex. The bill provides exceptions for specified types of surgeries or procedures, including those for treating (1) individuals who have both ovarian and testicular tissue or abnormal sex chromosome structure or hormones, or (2) infections or other harms that result from a previous gender-transition procedure. A violation is punishable by a fine, a prison term of up to 10 years, or both. The bill prohibits the arrest or prosecution of an individual who undergoes gender-affirming procedures or medications. 

Additionally, the bill makes changes to the existing federal criminal prohibition on performing FGM on a minor and related conduct. Among the changes, the bill broadens the scope of prohibited conduct to include the facilitation or consent to FGM by any person (currently, prohibited facilitation or consent applies only to a parent, guardian, or caretaker of the minor). The bill also prohibits the arrest or prosecution of an individual who undergoes FGM. The bill does not change the applicable criminal penalty of a fine, a prison term of up to 10 years, or both. 

Text of the bill

Expand all
Sec. 1. Short title Changed · Sep 26

Where this section came from

  1. May 19, 2025 · Introduced in House Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary, May 19
  2. Sep 26, 2025 · Reported in House Marked up by House Committee on the Judiciary, Jun 10 Reported by House Committee on the Judiciary, Sep 26 Committee members' individual votes aren't in our records.
What changed in the text

This Act may be cited as the Protect Children’s Innocence Act of 2025 .

What is a markup?

A markup is a committee meeting where members go through a bill and vote on changes before sending it to the full chamber.

This Act may be cited as the Protect Children’s Innocence Act.