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More than 200 House Democrats voted against a bill aimed at criminalizing transgender medical treatment for minors on Wednesday evening.
The bill passed in a 216 to 211 vote that had some bipartisan crossover.
Three Democrats, Reps. Vicente Gonzales, D-Texas, Don Davis, D-N.C., and Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, voted with Republicans for the bill.
Four Republicans, Reps. Mike Kennedy, R-Utah, Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., Gabe Evans, R-Colo., and Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., voted against it.
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It was widely opposed by most Democrats, however. Forty-five House Republicans signed on to formally back the legislation before the vote.
And while the majority of Republicans supported it on the House floor, it’s unclear as of now if it will be taken up in the GOP-led Senate.
Transgender issues, particularly related to minors, have been one of the topics driving a wedge between moderate and progressive Democrats. But the severity of the bill’s language appears to have turned off a significant number of Democrats in the House.
The bill creates new federal crimes that carry up to 10 years in prison for doctors performing transgender-affirming surgeries on minors, while also making it a crime to prescribe puberty blockers.
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Parents or guardians of children under 18 could also be held criminally liable if they consent to or otherwise facilitate transgender treatment for them.
“This extreme bill puts the threat of prosecution between hundreds of thousands of families and their doctors and would put doctors behind bars for exercising their best medical judgment,” said Mike Zamore, National Director of Policy & Government Affairs at the American Civil Liberties Union.
“Passing this bill would be a grave escalation of an already severe effort to not only push transgender people out of public life but also allow the state to control our bodies and our lives further.”
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Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who argued in favor of the bill on the House floor, said on Wednesday, “It is obscene. It is disgusting. You’re seeing in real time Democrats wanting and defending grooming of children. And it is abhorrent.”
“There is a lie at the heart of the debate we’re having today that I have to correct — no child is born in the wrong body. There are only two sexes, male and female. There are no others,” Mace said.
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