Britain’s draft bill puts parents’ right to guide children at risk

Britain’s draft Conversion Practices Bill could expose parents to up to five years in prison for an abusive conversion practice causing serious harm or substantial disruption to daily activities, and Parliament should reject it. On October 31, ADF International posted on X: “5 years in prison for parents under the UK’s proposed Conversion Practices Bill.” The post added: “Children cannot be born in the wrong body and the state has NO business criminalising parents for exercising their responsibility to protect their children.”¹ Clause 2 covers an abusive conversion practice causing “serious harm to the individual's physical or mental health” or “serious alarm or distress to the individual which has a substantial adverse effect on their usual day-to-day activities”; on conviction on indictment, the draft provides for “imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years, to a fine or to both”.

Sex Matters says the bill has no exemption for parents.

“A conversation around the kitchen table could put you in jail.”

Courts decide what counts as abuse

The draft defines a conversion practice as conduct aimed at changing or influencing a person’s sexual orientation or transgender identity. The offence requires an abusive practice that causes serious harm, or serious alarm or distress with a substantial adverse effect on daily activities².

5 years

The bill leaves the central judgment to the court: “The question whether conduct amounts to an abuse of the individual is a question of fact to be determined by reference to all the circumstances of the case.”² The bill lists controlling or coercive words or behaviour, and psychological or emotional pressure, as factors a court may consider when assessing abuse. A parent who says no to a child’s claimed identity would be measured against those open-ended words, not a fixed line written in advance. Who decides which conversation at home counts as coercion?

The minister’s assurance is not statutory protection

Minister for Women and Equalities Bridget Phillipson wrote that the draft will not impinge on decisions about how to parent. Sex Matters reports that her assurance says conversations such as “refusing to accept a child’s identity or use preferred pronouns” will not be caught by the legislation³. That is a government assurance, not an exemption written into the statute.

Sex Matters argues that a court will apply the wording of the act: “a criminal court will apply the words of the act, not a newspaper article written by a minister.”³ If ministers mean to protect parents who guide, correct, or decline to affirm a child’s claimed identity, why not write that protection into the bill?

Parents, not the state, direct upbringing

Parents hold the right and duty to direct their child’s upbringing, and this draft hands the final word on that guidance to criminal courts. Sex Matters featured a mother whose daughter identified as trans for seven years and has since desisted. She warned that encouraging a child to explore underlying questions could be treated as coercion: “If you’re trying to kind of encourage them to explore those very important underlying questions, then arguably, you know, you could be accused of psychological pressure and coercion.”³

Sex Matters’ summary of a report based on interviews with 30 mental-health professionals found that all of them raised serious concerns, and that “What concerned them most was the lack of protection for parents.” One clinical psychologist interviewed for that report put the danger plainly: “A conversation around the kitchen table could put you in jail.”³

Parliament can still reject the bill

The Government published the draft on 25 June 2026 as Bill CP 1604⁴. The tracker reports that the bill remained a draft under pre-legislative scrutiny as of October 30, 2026 and that the 12-member Joint Committee must report by January 22, 2027.

Sex Matters has asked the minister to write to the joint committee and to commit to amending the bill so parents are not caught by it³. Parliament should reject the bill unless its statutory text names parents as exempt. Parliament must reject a draft that leaves parents exposed for guiding their children.

Sources

1. @ADFIntl on X, 2026-10-31: 🚨5 years in prison for parents under the UK’s proposed Conversion Practices Bill Children cannot be born in the wrong body and the state has NO business criminalising parents for exercising their responsibility to protect their children. This bill is a direct th, 2026-10-31
2. Conversion practices draft bill - GOV.UK
3. Nothing in the Conversion Practices Bill protects parents - Sex Matters
4. Explanatory notes - GOV.UK