Tipsheet

Rep. Bob Onder Introduces the Chloe Cole Act to Protect Kids From 'Gender-Affirming' Procedures

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  February 25, 2026 11:00 AM

During his State of the Union address last night, President Trump highlighted the story of Sage Blair and her mother, Michele. Five years ago, when Sage was only 14, her Virginia school began "socially transitioning" her, helping her identify as a boy and keeping that information from her parents. Sage eventually ran away from home, was kidnapped and trafficked to Maryland, where a judge refused to release her to her parents because they wouldn't call their daughter a son.

"Sage was thrown into an all-boys state home and suffered terribly for a long time. But today, all of that is behind them. Because Sage is a proud and wonderful young woman with a full-ride scholarship to Liberty University. Sage and Rachelle, please stand up. And thank you for your great bravery," the president said. "But now we have to say it because it’s going on all over numerous states. They’re not even telling the parents. But surely we can all agree no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents’ arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents’ will. Who would believe that we’re even talking about it? We must ban it, and we must ban it immediately."

And if Missouri Republican Rep. Bob Onder has his way, such "gender-affirming care" for children will be blocked. Rep. Onder announced the introduction of the Chloe Cole Act, which would outlaw those procedures for minors. 

Here's more:

A Republican lawmaker is teaming up with outspoken detransitioner Chloe Cole to push federal legislation that would block gender-related medical procedures for minors, saying that children are being rushed into receiving treatments with life-altering results.

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.

Cole has made it very clear she wouldn't have taken puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or surgery had she known the long-term consequences. 

"Major medical organizations like @ASPS_News acknowledging how dangerously irresponsible these procedures are is only the beginning — we must keep fighting for justice, accountability, and to protect children from the same irreversible harm," Onder wrote on X.

Speaking to Fox News, Onder said, "What the Chloe Cole Act would do is protect kids from those who would harm them with irreversible procedures like puberty blockers, wrong-sex hormones, and even surgeries, by allowing those kids and their families to hold those accountable who do them harm. It would establish strict liability for these procedures, and we know that this works. And really, I believe that the decisions by the plastic surgeons and the American Medical Association that you mentioned...those were a direct result of the lawsuit verdict in New York."

"Even though 27 states have moved to protect kids, we need to protect kids in all 50 states," Onder added.

"I never would have gone through the medical abuse that I would have, if a law like this was in place in California and federally," Cole said.

Cole accompanied Onder to the State of the Union address.

"I'm here with my special guest Chloe Cole and we are highlighting the Chloe Cole Act, which will protect kids from those who would harm them with gender mutilating procedures," Onder said. "I'm so happy that Chloe is lending her name to my act, I'm so happy to work with the Trump Justice Department in getting this important piece of legislation done."

"It's an incredible honor and opportunity to be here for the State of the Union and also to have my name on that very important piece of legislation that I think will be a historic win for the rights of children, for the rights of families across the United States," Cole said. "Because right now, there are many states that have chosen to protect their children, and thank God for them. But there so many more that are choosing to go in the very opposite direction, like my own home state of California, and we need to have measures that will protect not just a select few thousand children in the U.S., but every single one of them. And for that, I could not be more thankful."

The measure received praise from many, including Heritage Action, which called it a "vital piece of legislation."

Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, Chairman of Do No Harm, also praised the legislation, saying, “While this Administration has made tremendous progress to stamp out the scandal of sex change interventions on minors, legislation is needed to permanently codify protections for vulnerable American adolescents. The Chloe Cole Act is designed to permanently end chemical and surgical damage to minors, which has proliferated to an alarming degree by those who peddle misinformation and practice pseudoscience. The evidence does not support these types of interventions that are harmful and often do irreversible damage. Do No Harm applauds the elected officials who are fighting to end the child sex-change industry.”