In March 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump made several posts on Truth Social that appeared to claim that the SAVE America Act — legislation requiring proof of citizenship and photo ID to vote — also included several policies related to transgender people.
Many of the posts said the SAVE America Act contained the following five provisions:
THE SAVE AMERICA ACT!
1. ALL VOTERS MUST SHOW VOTER I.D. (IDENTIFICATION!).
2. ALL VOTERS MUST SHOW PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP IN ORDER TO VOTE.
3. NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS (EXCEPT FOR ILLNESS, DISABILITY, MILITARY, OR TRAVEL!).
4. NO MEN IN WOMEN'S SPORTS.
5. NO TRANSGENDER MUTILATION SURGERY FOR CHILDREN.
(A since-deleted post from Trump's Truth Social account on March 5 originally said the fifth provision was: "NO TRANSGENDER MUTILATION SURGERY FOR CHILDREN, WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN APPROVAL OF THE PARENTS.")
The White House later echoed Trump's posts, adding to confusion on social media about what, exactly, was in the SAVE America Act. Some users wondered why anti-trans provisions would be included in a bill that had largely been
The SAVE America Act does not include the fourth and fifth provisions Trump listed (nor does it include a ban on mail-in ballots, although it would enforce new requirements on mail-in voters). As such, it was initially unclear whether Trump meant that the SAVE America Act should include these provisions, or if he meant to claim, falsely, that it did include those provisions.
Trump later said he wanted Republicans to add the two anti-trans provisions he previously posted about on Truth Social to the SAVE America Act. As of this writing, however, Republicans have not introduced a new version of the legislation with Trump's added demands, nor have they introduced an amendment to the SAVE America Act including these provisions, per a tracker for the bill on the congressional website. We reached out to Republican leadership and the bill's authors to ask whether they're drafting a new version of the SAVE America Act to fulfill Trump's demands and await a response.
In response to an email asking for clarity about the trans-focused provisions' relationship to the bill, the White House referred to an X post from Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, which said, falsely, that the SAVE America Act already includes bans on "men competing in women's sports" and "transgender mutilation surgery for children."
"Mutilation" rhetoric about trans health care is misleading and medically inaccurate, per the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization that classifies hate groups. One Harvard University study from 2024 found few to no instances of gender-affirming surgeries performed on trans minors and none performed on children under 12, with substantially higher rates of similar gender-affirming surgeries performed on minors who aren't trans.
The NCAA president testified in 2024 that he believed there were fewer than 10 trans athletes in U.S. college sports.
No trans issues in current version of the bill
A read-through of the entire SAVE America Act and searches for "transgender," "gender," "sex," "women" and "sports" returned no sections that dealt with the anti-trans policies Trump proposed.
House Republicans passed the SAVE America Act without Trump's added anti-trans proposals on Feb. 11, but that version must pass the Senate, too, before Trump can sign it into law, which would require Democratic support. In order to include Trump's requested provisions in the SAVE America Act, lawmakers in both chambers would have to pass a new version before sending it to him.
Lawmakers have not taken any actions related to the SAVE America Act since Feb. 12, according to the congressional legislative tracker, long before Trump began calling for bans on trans women in sports and gender-affirming surgeries for minors.
In our breakdown of how the SAVE America Act would change how to vote, we confirmed the bill includes the first two provisions as listed by Trump. We also noted that the SAVE America Act does not ban mail-in ballots, although there are some restrictions on mail-in ballots due to the proof-of-citizenship and voter ID requirements in the legislation.
Trump calls anti-trans additions the 'gold' version
In a March 8 Truth Social post, Trump said he would not sign any other bills until the "gold" version of the SAVE America Act, including the two anti-trans proposals, was passed.
He then urged Republicans to pass a version of the SAVE America Act that would include the additional two provisions during March 9 remarks at the Republican Members Issues Conference in Miami, Florida, thus appearing to acknowledge that the SAVE America Act did not already include them. His comments on the SAVE America Act begin at 44:54, and the relevant portion is below:
I want to thank House Republicans for passing another common-sense measure — to me, the easiest of all: the SAVE America Act to protect our sacred American — [applause]. Look at this. [Applause] Look.
Trump's reference to "Mike" likely meant House Majority Leader Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, but it could also mean Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, the original Senate sponsor of the SAVE America Act.
Following his speech, Trump continued to claim that the SAVE America Act included the two anti-trans provisions, including in a March 11 Truth Social post.
White House, Republicans react
Since Trump's March 9 remarks, the White House has acted as though the SAVE America Act already includes the anti-trans policies proposed by Trump.
In a March 10 news conference, Leavitt said:
No. 4, the SAVE America Act permanently bans men from competing in women's sports. President Trump signed a landmark executive order upholding the promise of Title IX and ending this dangerous and unfair practice. But now it's time for Congress to codify this into law.
No. 5, the SAVE America Act bans transgender mutilation surgery for children. Again, President Trump signed a common-sense executive order to do this and kept his promise to the American people, but now Congress needs to do the same and codify it. It's well past time for Democrats in Congress to stop perpetuating the radical and false claim that you can somehow change a child's sex. You cannot.
Passing the SAVE America Act is the most important thing that Republicans, and frankly, Democrats can do to strengthen election integrity and protect our democracy.
Her full remarks can be found on the White House YouTube page, with the SAVE America Act comments starting at 4:39. No reporters asked Leavitt specifically about the anti-trans provisions she incorrectly claimed were in the SAVE America Act.
In a March 10 statement to a Snopes reporter for a story related to Trump's remarks at the GOP retreat, the White House said in an email: "President Trump was discussing the commonsense policies in The Save America Act which includes keeping men out of women's sports, ending transgender mutilation surgeries for minors, and implementing widely supported election integrity measures."
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said the House would need to act first and "send over another version" before the Senate would take up a Trump-approved version of the SAVE America Act, according to 19th News, a reputable nonprofit newsroom that covers gender and politics.
In sum …
The SAVE America Act, as of this writing, does not include any policies specifically restricting trans rights.
Trump implied on social media that such policies were already in the bill. He later told Republicans that he wanted them to add bans on "men playing in women's sports" and "transgender mutilation surgery for our children" to the SAVE America Act — and that he would not sign any other bills unless legislators first passed his version of the SAVE America Act.
The White House, following Trump's remarks, has repeatedly and falsely claimed that the SAVE America Act "permanently bans men from competing in women's sports" and "bans transgender mutilation surgery for children."