Congress Could Soon Declare That Affirming A Child’s Sex Is Not Abuse

Senator Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican, has put forward legislation that would stop child welfare agencies receiving federal money from treating a parent's decision to raise a child according to that child's sex as mistreatment. The Yaeli Martinez Child Protection Act states that such parenting is not abuse, neglect, or maltreatment. Schmitt told The Daily Wire that parents in blue states are being punished, and at times separated from their children, for shielding them from harmful treatments.

The bill honors Yaeli Martinez, a California woman who died by suicide at 19. Her school reportedly socially transitioned her in secret, and California authorities then took her from her mother, Abigail Martinez, whom they deemed abusive for declining to affirm a male identity. Martinez told a California Senate committee in 2023 that she lost her daughter "over a name and pronouns." The Daily Wire also notes a Catholic family who said in September 2026 that Massachusetts removed their daughter for the same reason.

Under its terms, agencies could not use federal dollars for training, curricula or guidance endorsing so-called sex-rejecting interventions, and could not remove children or bar foster and adoption placements over a family's refusal to transition a child. Parents, guardians and caregivers could sue in federal district court. Laura Hanford, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, said the change would give families a remedy they lack now, and end activists' grip on the system. The measure reverses Biden administration policy directing such youths to LGBTQ-friendly homes.

Summarized by PolitiKool from Daily Wire’s reporting. Read the full story at Daily Wire →