PDE Action Endorses Representative Virginia Foxx’s Parental Right to Protect Act

December 15, 2022

Today, PDE Action proudly endorses House Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx’s Parental Right to Protect Act. This legislation ensures that parents cannot be punished for refusing to “affirm” their child’s “gender identity” with untested, dubious medical procedures. 

Child Protective Services has in several cases taken a child from his or her parents because they were unwilling to allow their child to transition sexes. In one tragic case, a California mother lost custody of her 17 year old daughter after opposing medical intervention to “affirm” her child’s gender identity. The child committed suicide after being placed in a foster home. 

A government agency should not have the authority to threaten parents who refuse to “affirm” their child’s “gender identity” through unsound and untested medical treatments—including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgical procedures. While the research on such procedures is limited, initial studies show that these treatments can cause infertility and osteoporosis. 

It is heinous for a government agency to force parents to decide whether to retain custody over their child or have their child undergo life-altering treatments with questionable medical efficacy. 

The Parental Right to Protect Act would ensure that Child Protective Services cannot remove a child from his or her parents based on the parent’s opposition to “affirming” their child’s “gender identity.” Under this act, a state would be ineligible for Title I funding if state law allows CPS to take a child from his or her parents if they are unwilling to allow their child to undergo a social or medical transition. 

PDE Action applauds Rep. Foxx (R., N.C.) for introducing such vital protections for parents—and for vulnerable children.

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Download this press release here.