Durbin Joins Baldwin, Colleagues To Introduce NDAA Amendment To Protect Military Parents' Right To Health Care For Their Kids
House-passed NDAA included a ban on health care for transgender kids, stripping service members of parental rights to make health care decisions for their children
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) to introduce an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2025 to remove language that would strip away service members’ parental rights to access medically necessary health care for their transgender children. The U.S. House of Representatives-passed NDAA includes language that bans certain medical treatments under TRICARE for transgender kids under the age of 18.
“It’s shameful that care for transgender children of military service members is being used as a political ploy. Service members and their children should have access to the gender-affirming care they need,” said Durbin. “I’m joining my colleagues to introduce an amendment to the NDAA to protect the rights of military families to make their own decisions about their health care.”
“Let’s be clear: we’re talking about parents who are in uniform serving our country who have earned the right to make the best decisions for their families. I trust our servicemembers and their doctors to make the best healthcare decisions for their kids, not politicians,” said Baldwin. “Our amendment would protect military families’ right to make their own decisions and access sometimes lifesaving care for their children.”
Every major medical and mental health association in the U.S., representing more than 1.3 million U.S. doctors, supports access to this medically necessary, evidence-based health care for transgender people.
If the House-passed NDAA becomes law, it is estimated that 6,000 – 7,000 transgender children of service members would not be able to access the health care that their parents had approved.
The amendment to the FY2025 NDAA would strike Sec. 708 of the House-passed NDAA, which would ban TRICARE from offering medically sound health care to the transgender children of our service members who are covered under the program.
In addition to Durbin and Baldwin, the amendment is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Ed Markey (D-MA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Patty Murray (D-WA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI).
A full version of the amendment is available here.
An online version of this release is available here.
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