Rep. Mary Miller Takes Action to Protect Families from Radical Gender Policies

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today, Congresswoman Mary Miller (IL-15) introduced theYaeli Martinez Child Protection Act to protect parents from being punished by state child-welfare systems for affirming their child’s biological sex or shielding them from irreversible medical procedures. 

“Raising your son as a boy or your daughter as a girl is fundamental to parenthood, not child abuse,” said Congresswoman Mary Miller. “The Yaeli Martinez Child Protection Act defends the constitutional rights of mothers and fathers and stops bureaucrats from using taxpayer-funded child-welfare systems to tear children away from loving families.”

The legislation is named in honor of Yaeli Martinez, a California teenager who was separated from her mother amid a dispute over her gender identity and spent years in the state’s child-welfare system before dying by suicide at age 19 in 2019. 

The Yaeli Martinez Child Protection Act would:

• Protect parents from wrongful abuse allegations by clarifying that affirming a child’s biological sex does not constitute child abuse.
• Safeguard parental custody by barring federally funded state child-welfare systems from removing children from fit parents simply because those parents affirm their child’s biological sex.
• Ensure foster and adoptive families cannot be denied placement solely because they affirm a child’s biological sex.
• Amend the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act to prevent states from wrongfully asserting custody over a child.
• Hold states accountable through federal funding consequences and a private right of action for violations of the Act.

Original Cosponsors: Reps. Josh Brecheen (OK-02), Sheri Biggs (SC-03), Barry Moore (AL-01), Randy Fine (FL-06), John Rose (TN-06), Mark Alford (MO-04), Rich McCormick (GA-07), Robert Aderholt (AL-04), Marlin Stutzman (IN-03), Mark Harris (NC-08), Diana Harshbarger (TN-01), and Erin Houchin (IN-09).

Supporting Organizations: Do No Harm, Concerned Women for America, Child and Parental Rights Campaign, American Principles Project, Moms for America, Changed Movement, Moms for Liberty, Live Action, Our Duty, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Independent Women’s Forum, Kansas Family Voice, Child Welfare and Justice Transformation, Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, Parents United Colorado, Parents Defending Education, The Family Foundation of Virginia, American Association of Christian Schools, CatholicVote, America First Works, The Heritage Foundation, Lifeline Children’s Services, Genspect USA, Women Are Real, Partners for Ethical Care, California Family Council, Californians United for Sex-Based Evidence in Law and Policy, Frederick Douglass Foundation of California, and Awake Illinois.

"It is not child abuse for a parent or caregiver to affirm a child's sex. In fact, doing so is acting in the best interest of the child by protecting them from falling into a false and dangerous ideology. But far too many families have been wrongly investigated and punished by the state for doing that very thing. Far too many foster parents have been barred from caring for children in need because they refuse to use false pronouns. We are grateful to Rep. Miller for introducing legislation that will protect families who rightly teach their children that each one is created uniquely, lovingly, by God, male and female," said Penny Nance, CEO and President of CWALAC.

“This bill honors Yaeli Martinez, a teenager who committed suicide in 2019 after her removal from her mother’s custody by the California child welfare system for her mother’s failure to treat her as a boy. Yaeli’s gender transition was nurtured by peers, school staff, and the state of California, who provided her with testosterone, housed her in institutions that affirmed her rejection of her sex, and isolated her from her family. Sadly, she never overcame the trauma of that separation or the physical harm inflicted by years of cross-sex hormone treatments. The Yaeli Martinez Child Protection Act is an urgently needed legislative intervention to ensure that politically and ideologically motivated bureaucrats and public employees can no longer remove children from their parents' homes when those parents act in the best interest of their child. The Supreme Court has ruled that the child is “not the mere creature of the state” and that parents retain the constitutional authority to direct their children’s medical care. California’s usurpation of parental authority is nothing short of breathtaking, and its brazen use–and the use of states like it–of federal tax dollars to turn public service entities into ideological Gestapos that punish parents who question gender identity is positively Orwellian. Life-altering healthcare decisions for minors must be reserved to those who know their children best: that child’s parent or guardian. We applaud Senator Schmitt and Representative Miller for introducing this critical bill, and we look forward to the day that the machinery of child welfare systems cannot be weaponized against loving, caring parents who recognize the principles of basic biology and simply want the best for their child,” said Sarah Parshall Perry, Legal Director and Vice President, Parents Defending Education Action.

"Child and Parental Rights Campaign is pleased to endorse the Yaeli Martinez Child Protection Act and wishes to express our gratitude to Representative Mary Miller for her leadership in sponsoring this bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. Our organization represents or knows many of the families who have been impacted by the harms this bill seeks to address and prevent. This includes Abigail Martinez, the mother of Yaeli Martinez. As a key collaborator and contributor in the effort to protect these children and families, we look forward to the advancement and passage of this legislation," said Vernadette Broyles, Esq., President and Chief Counsel, Child and Parental Rights Campaign.

“I applaud Senator Schmitt and Representative Miller for standing with parents, protecting children from harmful sex-rejecting interventions, and recognizing biological reality. It is not child abuse for parents to raise a child as a girl or a boy in accord with the child’s sex. The Yaeli Martinez Child Protection Act will help ensure that no parent loses custody of a child for affirming the child’s sex—something that is sadly happening across the country and why this Act is urgently needed,” said Rachel Morrison, Fellow and Director, Administrative State Accountability Project, The Ethics and Public Policy Center.

"The Yaeli Martinez Child Protection Act will protect the fundamental American understanding that parents have the right to direct the upbringing of their children. Affirming a child's actual sex is not abuse, and federal funds must not be used to punish parents as if it were. If anything, gender-confused children need their loving parents more than ever, not a state system that takes them away and exposes them to irreversible harm,” said Kurt Miceli, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Do No Harm.

“Raising a girl as a girl or a boy as a boy is not child abuse, and no parent should fear losing custody of a child for refusing to deny biological reality or consent to life-altering medical interventions. Government has a role in protecting children from genuine abuse and neglect, but it should never be used to override the judgment of fit parents simply because state officials disagree with how they are raising their child. This legislation protects the fundamental right of parents to direct the care, upbringing, and medical decisions of their children, and Independent Women applauds Congresswoman Miller and is proud to support it,” said Beth Parlato, Independent Women Senior Legal Counsel.