Former President Donald Trump is urging Congress to attach anti-transgender provisions to the proposed SAVE America Act, a sweeping election bill that already faces criticism from voting rights advocates. The push comes as Trump publicly pressures Republican lawmakers to expand the legislation to include policies targeting transgender people.
The SAVE America Act, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year, primarily focuses on election restrictions. One of its central provisions would require Americans to provide documentary proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, when registering to vote. Voting rights groups argue the requirement could make it significantly harder for millions of eligible voters to participate in elections.
Trump recently weighed in on the legislation through posts on his social media platform Truth Social, outlining what he believes should be included in the final version of the bill. In those posts, he called for provisions that would target transgender people, including banning transgender women from women’s sports and restricting gender-affirming medical care for minors.
However, Trump’s messaging around the issue quickly sparked backlash from some of his own supporters.
In an earlier Truth Social post outlining his demands, Trump included language suggesting that gender-affirming medical care for minors should require parental approval. That version of the message was later deleted and replaced with a revised post that removed the parental consent language entirely.
The change drew criticism from some conservative activists who support broader bans on gender-affirming care and believe parental approval should not be part of the policy framework. For those critics, the initial language was seen as too permissive.
The revised message continued to push for anti-trans provisions tied to the SAVE America Act but without mentioning parental involvement in medical decisions. The change highlighted growing tensions within conservative circles about how aggressively the federal government should regulate gender-affirming care.
The proposed additions were not included in the version of the SAVE America Act that passed the House, and it remains unclear whether congressional Republicans will attempt to incorporate them as the bill moves forward.
Civil rights organizations say combining unrelated policy issues into one bill could complicate an already controversial piece of legislation. Voting rights advocates have warned that the SAVE America Act itself could disenfranchise many Americans who lack easy access to required documentation, including elderly voters, married women whose legal documents do not match their birth names, and people born in rural areas where records are harder to obtain.
Advocates for transgender rights say the attempt to add anti-trans provisions to an election bill reflects a broader political strategy that increasingly places transgender issues at the center of national political debates.
The bill now faces an uncertain path in the Senate, where it would likely need bipartisan support to overcome procedural hurdles.
As debate continues, the SAVE America Act has become a flashpoint for two major national controversies at once: the future of voting access in the United States and the growing wave of legislation targeting transgender people.
