Former President Donald Trump’s campaign indicated Tuesday he will call to instate felonies for doctors who perform surgeries on minors without parental consent.
The hot button topic was one of several prepared for Trump’s campaign speech at the Livingston County Sheriff’s Department in Howell, Mich. The prepared remarks also touched on introducing the death penalty for child rapists and the return of “stop and frisk” policing.
“I am announcing today that I will be asking for the death penalty for child rapists and child traffickers,” the prepared remarks read. “And to protect our children from sexual mutilation, we will make it a felony for any medical professional to perform surgery on a minor without parental consent.”
Several members of Trump's campaign team also reshared X posts pointing to the proposal. Karoline Leavitt, the national press secretary, wrote "BIG NEWS" when sharing a Fox News reporter's post.
Trump ultimately did not announce the proposal in his speech at the Livingston County Sheriff's Department. It is not immediately clear when he will do so.
The crime-focused speech by Trump sought to juxtapose messages on crime made at the Democratic National Convention. Vice President Kamala Harris has repeatedly touted her background as a prosecutor as justification for her ability to be tough on crime.
Trump will also speak on national security in North Carolina Wednesday, before traveling to Arizona and Nevada to talk immigration Thursday and Friday.
“They’re just weak on crime,” Trump said of the Harris campaign during a Pennsylvania rally last week. “They don’t mind if somebody murders somebody. They don’t want them to go to jail. You can kill somebody now. They do a lot of bad things, and we have to win this election because crime statistics are a disaster.”
Gender transition procedures for minors remain a contentious topic ahead of the November election. Biden administration health officials worked to convince medical experts to remove age restrictions for a variety of such procedures from their guidelines, according to documents filed in an Alabama court case in June.
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