The Chloe Cole Act of 2026 has cleared an important legislative hurdle and is one step closer to becoming law. Americans eager to protect children from transgender ideology should celebrate.
Introduced by Rep. Bob Onder (R-Wis.) and co-sponsored by 86 other House Republicans, H.R. 7651 establishes a private right of action enabling children, parents, or guardians to sue providers of transgender surgeries or other interventions that were performed on minors.
The bill cleared the House Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote last Wednesday and now heads to the House Rules Committee, the last step before consideration by the full House.
In a statement released by the Independent Women’s Forum, Rep. Onder expressed his dismay “that politics and ideology have been allowed to override sound medical judgment, leaving vulnerable children to undergo irreversible procedures without a comprehensive psychological evaluation, treatment of underlying mental health conditions, or truly informed parental consent.”
The Chloe Cole Act, he continued, “would allow families to hold clinics and hospitals accountable and ensure victims have adequate time to seek justice.”
Do No Harm agrees. In his own statement, Chief Medical Officer Kurt Miceli, MD, noted that “[p]assing The Chloe Cole Act will not only establish a strong deterrent against sex‑rejecting procedures in minors by exposing harmful actors to real legal accountability but also mark a meaningful step toward justice for those harmed by the child sex‑change industry.”
H.R. 7651 is an attempt to implement at the federal level what a number states have already done. Among the states that have passed into law a similar private right of action are Arkansas, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Montana’s law creating one has been blocked by its state Supreme Court.
Though these piecemeal efforts are welcome, they create a two-tiered system in which red-state children are protected from ideological manipulation concerning “gender,” while blue-state children are not.
The Chloe Cole Act is an attempt to remedy this situation, because all children deserve these protections regardless of where they live, and minors who have been harmed need justice.
What is the Act’s likely legislative future? Regrettably, the House Judiciary Committee advanced the bill on a party-line vote, with no Democrats voting in support of the measure. The bill has no Democratic cosponsors. No Democratic senators have spoken in favor of the Act, and one struggles to imagine that 60 votes will be found to achieve Senate cloture, even if the House passes the bill successfully.
Nevertheless, the effort is worthy and essential. Opponents of sex-rejecting procedures for minors need allies wherever we can find them. The American litigation system could be an effective one, and this Act would open it up to all children and their families.
