Chloe Cole Act aimed at blocking minors from undergoing life-altering transgender surgeries, GOP lawmaker says

The Chloe Cole Act is being introduced on Monday as federal legislation aimed at protecting minors from gender-related medical procedures. 

Rep. Bob Onder, R-Mo., who is behind the bill, has a medical degree and is sounding the alarm over the impact that gender-related treatments can have on minors. The congressman told Fox News Digital that his bill will not only protect minors from these treatments, but will also give children and parents the right to hold medical professionals accountable in court.

"We know that in the last 15 years, the transgender movement has convinced tens of thousands of boys and girls that they are born in the wrong body.... And then a chain of transgender clinics has exploited these kids for the ideology and for the profit and really done permanent damage to the health of those kids with wrong sex hormones, puberty blockers and even mutilating surgeries," Onder told Fox News Digital.

Cole, who has become a prominent detransition advocate, told Fox News Digital that the legislation is "a vital step in our mission to ensure that no minor in America ever endures the kind of lasting, irreparable damage I experienced."

"While we've made significant strides in raising awareness and enacting protections in recent years, the fight is far from over. 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," Cole said in a statement provided exclusively to Fox News Digital.

"We must finish what we've started and safeguard the next generation from these experimental and barbaric treatments," she added.

In her op-ed, Cole brought up a subject that Onder also touched on during his interview with Fox News Digital: the prevalence of medical professionals warning parents that their child could harm themselves or even commit suicide if they are not allowed to undergo the procedures.

"Those parents are being lied to," Onder said. "The words I hear quoted over and over again, by Chloe, by Luka Hein, by others, is that their parents were told, 'Would you rather have a live son or a dead daughter?' implying that the risk of suicide is approaching 100%, but nothing could be further from the truth. That is an utter lie," Onder said.

The congressman lambasted the industry behind gender-related medical procedures, wondering if children were being pushed into the surgeries because of "sick ideology" or a "desire for profit."

"Parents are being lied to, the transgender clinics and the transgender doctors are making off with a lot of money. It's really a despicable development in American medicine. And as a physician, I look forward to the day where it's in our rearview mirror and no longer are kids being exploited," the congressman added.