Act 63-2025: what it prohibits and for whom, up to age 21

It is a 2025 law prohibiting medical institutions and health professionals from performing certain interventions and treatments on people under 21, with a fixed fifteen-year prison penalty. This page reports what the text says, with its definitions and its two written exceptions, and puts the law’s own terms in quotation marks. We give no medical opinion and take no position: anyone facing a clinical decision makes it with their physician, and anyone facing a legal matter, with a lawyer.

The age definition comes first, because it decides everything else and surprises almost everyone: the law defines “child or minor” as “any person under 21 years of age.” Not eighteen. The prohibition is directed at medical institutions and health professionals, not at the family or the patient; the law defines “health institution” as “any entity providing medical or health services, both public and private, that treat minors.”

• For the first exception: that a variant of hermaphroditism occur or another case containing some genetic and/or physiological hormonal dysfunction, and that it be certified by a paediatric endocrinologist and/or paediatrician.Verified against the official source
• For the second exception: that it be the treatment of medical conditions outside the definition of “chemical and surgical mutilation” the law itself contains.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: Minor means under 21

   It is the fact to read before any other, because it changes the whole law’s scope and does not match the civil age of majority. The definitions article says: “Child or minor — Any person under 21 years of age.”

2. 2

   Step 2: What it prohibits, in the law’s words

   We quote the article in full because the wording is what defines the scope: “No medical institution or health professional may perform surgical interventions or medication treatments that alter the biology of a minor’s sex under the pretext of a gender transition or as part of a gender dysphoria treatment. Public or private institutions receiving public funding may not allocate funds to these procedures.” The same article adds that those interventions “shall be considered unethical, illegal procedures contrary to the best interest of children and adolescents.”

3. 3

   Step 3: What the term the law defines covers

   The law creates a term of its own and defines it. We reproduce the definition in quotation marks because the term is its, not ours. “Chemical and surgical mutilation — Includes the use of puberty blockers and sex hormones (including androgenic blockers, estrogens, progesterone or testosterone) used for the purpose of treating gender dysphoria or altering the biology of a minor’s sex under the pretext of a gender transition. It likewise includes surgical procedures that modify or eliminate sexual organs with the objective of altering their natural biological function, as well as interventions destined to align a minor’s physical appearance with an identity different from their biological sex.”

4. 4

   Step 4: First exception: certified variants and dysfunctions

   It is the part that matters most to families with an endocrine or intersex diagnosis, and we give it in full because a paraphrase could narrow or widen it. The law says: “Except in those cases where a variant of hermaphroditism occurs or other cases containing some genetic and/or physiological hormonal dysfunction certified by a paediatric endocrinologist and/or paediatrician; who may perform the treatment medical guidelines permit.” The certification by a paediatric endocrinologist and/or paediatrician is the condition, and the treatment’s scope is set by “medical guidelines,” which the law does not identify and we did not read.

5. 5

   Step 5: Second exception: everything else is unchanged

   This exception prevents an overreaching reading of the law and is also literal: “In addition, the prohibition provided above shall not apply to the treatment of medical conditions outside the definition of chemical and surgical mutilation contained in this Act.” That is, treatment of a medical condition that does not fall inside that definition is not reached by the prohibition.

6. 6

   Step 6: The penalties

   The law sets them at three levels and they are severe, so they are worth reading exactly. “Any person who violates this Act’s provisions shall be sanctioned with a prison term of a fixed fifteen (15) years. If a health professional incurs in the violation of this Act, in addition to the penalty described above, their professional licence shall be revoked. If the convicted person is a juridical person, it shall be sanctioned with a fine of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) per violation and all its licences and operating permits shall be revoked, permanently barring it from doing business in Puerto Rico.” The Department of Justice “shall have the power to investigate and sanction any practice violating this Act’s provisions, as well as to coordinate with federal entities to apply other related current regulations.”

7. 7

   Step 7: What it orders Education and Health to do

   There is a programmes article and it carries an instruction about tone worth knowing. The Department of Education and the Department of Health “shall develop and implement education and awareness programmes directed at the community at large, at parents and guardians, and at health professionals” about the risks the law describes. And it adds: “These programmes must emphasise the principles of respect and dignity toward all persons and shall be oriented to promoting minors’ emotional and psychological well-being.”

8. 8

   Step 8: Since when it governs

   “This Act shall take effect immediately after its approval. Government entities shall have a term of no more than 90 days from its approval to implement the provisions established herein.” The certified copy we read carries the Department of State certification dated July 21, 2025. We did not verify whether this Act has been challenged, enjoined or modified by any court, and saying so is part of the information.

There is no procedure to complete: it is a prohibition directed at medical institutions and health professionals, with the Department of Justice empowered to investigate and sanction. If your situation falls near either exception, the law places the certification in the hands of a paediatric endocrinologist and/or paediatrician, so that conversation is with the physician. If you need legal guidance on how it affects you, that is a matter for a lawyer; our free legal assistance guide may serve as a starting point.

• Assuming “minor” means under 18: this law defines it as any person under 21.
• Overlooking the two exceptions: the law expressly excludes cases of a variant of hermaphroditism or other genetic and/or physiological hormonal dysfunction certified by a paediatric endocrinologist and/or paediatrician, and the treatment of medical conditions outside its own definition.
• Believing the prohibition is directed at the family or the patient: the law directs it at medical institutions and health professionals.
• Assuming it reaches only public institutions: the definition of health institution includes public and private.
• Reading a summary instead of the text: with a fixed fifteen (15) year penalty at stake, the exact wording matters.
• Taking the law’s judicial status for granted: we did not verify it, and this page asserts nothing either way.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico

  Salud

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov