Doctor and Representative Bob Onder (R-Missouri) reintroduced the legislation on February 23 after it was transmitted to Congress by the Department of Justice (DOJ), indicating the executive branch is formally addressing the issue of protecting minors from medical gender-transition interventions.
As a member of Congress, a physician, parent, and a concerned citizen, Onder said that he is "committed to safeguarding the health and well-being of our nation's children."
"The importance of this legislation is non-negotiable," he said in his press release. "This is a landmark bill that will permanently end one of the most dangerous and barbaric medical practices in modern history."
Chloe Cole is a young woman who began her gender transition around age 12 and later detransitioned at age 15 after experiencing regret and health issues related to medical interventions.
Now 21 years old, she travels the country to speak against medications and surgeries for minors with gender dysphoria and is happy to be part of this bill effort.
"While we've made significant strides in raising awareness and enacting protections in recent years, the fight is far from over," said Cole. "Too many children remain at risk of irreversible harm from puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures pushed on them before they can fully understand the consequences."
According to Cole, reintroducing this bill is "a vital step" in the mission to ensure that no minor endures the kind of lasting, irreparable damage she experienced.
"We must finish what we've started and safeguard the next generation from these experimental and barbaric treatments," said Cole.
Concerned Women for America legislative strategist Hannah Lape laments that Cole, like so many other children, was coerced by her counselors and doctors.
"Chloe is such a brave champion and articulate voice for survivors of sex-rejecting procedures," Lape accounts.
She tells AFN the Chloe Cole Act of 2026 was "carefully coordinated" between the representative who reintroduced it, the Department of Justice, and Concerned Women for America.
"The bill places full civil liability on hospitals, clinics, and healthcare providers that carry out sex-rejecting procedures on minors [and] establishes a private right of action in allowing a second individual in the family to pursue civil damages against those medical providers who harm them and harm their children," Lape relays.
"It also provides a lengthy statute of limitation to ensure that those individuals and families have sufficient time to seek legal recourse," she adds.
The original Chloe Cole Act did not advance past committee assignment and was not passed into law during the 2025 session. It remained stalled in Congress without being voted on by the full House or Senate.
The reintroduced bill must pass committee review, be approved by both the House and Senate, and then be signed by the president before becoming law.
