Murray, Baldwin, Colleagues 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 servicemembers of parental rights to make health care decisions for their children

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) joined Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and 19 other Senators to introduce an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2025 to remove language that would strip away servicemembers’ parental rights to access medically necessary health care for their transgender children.

The U.S. House of Representatives-passed NDAA includes language that bans health care for transgender kids and TRICARE patients under the age of 18.

The amendment is co-sponsored by Senators Ed Markey (D-MA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Patty Murray (D-WA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tina Smith (D-MN), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Alex Padilla (D-CA), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), John Fetterman (D-PA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Martin Heinrich (D-NM).

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 servicemembers 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 for our youngest transgender servicemembers and to transgender military children under 18.

A full version of the amendment is available here.

An online version of this release is available here.

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