Senate hearing on Bill 184: professional bodies and survivors urge ban on conversion therapies for minors, debate scope of religious counseling

The Senate held a public hearing on Senate Bill 184, which proposes amending Puerto Rico's Mental Health Law (Law 408 of 2000) and the Law for the Safety, Welfare and Protection of Minors (Law 246 of 2011) to prohibit conversion or reparative therapies for minors and to treat subjecting a child to such therapies as maltreatment.

Lidael Vega, first vice president of the Colegio de Profesionales del Trabajo Social, told the committee the profession opposes conversion therapies and supports the bill's protections for young people. "Prohibir las terapias reparativas o de conversión nos encaminan a ser un país más justo y equitativo para toda la ciudadanía," she said, arguing the therapies violate social-work ethics and lack empirical support.

Alejandro Santiago Calderón, a social worker and survivor who said he underwent conversion processes between 2008 and 2013, described those experiences as traumatic and frequently non-voluntary. "Esa voluntariedad no existe," he said, urging a broader statutory definition that explicitly covers faith-based counseling and other unregulated settings where harm occurs.

Senators focused on two contested issues: the bill's current practical scope (it targets minors) and whether the statutory definition should be broadened to encompass spiritual counseling inside churches and other institutions. Reading the draft text to the record, the committee noted the bill would add a definition to the Mental Health Law and then amend child-protection provisions so that subjecting a minor to conversion therapy is a form of maltreatment.

"Lo que se está prohibiendo es a menores de edad," a senator emphasized during questioning, reiterating that the present draft addresses children and adolescents rather than adults. Other senators, including Joan Rodríguez Bebe, warned that a broadly worded maltreatment definition could have interpretive consequences and pressed witnesses about parental autonomy and hypothetical scenarios in which parental decisions intersect with child welfare.

Panelists and senators also discussed enforcement and reporting: the Colegio explained licensed professionals may be disciplined through existing boards, but many harmful practices happen in unregulated religious or community settings, limiting formal complaints. Witnesses recommended clarifying reporting paths and, where necessary, extending legal remedies so victims can seek redress as adults for harms suffered in childhood.

The hearing included references to scholarly and historical sources: witnesses cited reviews and U.S.-based studies that find conversion therapies ineffective and harmful and noted figures and organizations historically associated with reparative-treatment manuals. Panelists named the ministry "Nueva Condición" and the work of Joseph Nicolosi and related groups as part of the record when discussing the kinds of programs the bill aims to prevent.

The committee did not vote during the session. The chair invited persons who could not speak today to submit memorials to the record; the panel recessed to seat the next witnesses. The bill will continue to the legislative process with outstanding questions to resolve about definition, enforcement and whether to include unregulated spiritual counseling explicitly in the prohibition.

Provenance: primary material for this article comes from the Senate hearing transcript; testimony and quotes are drawn from the panel appearances of Lidael Vega (Colegio de Profesionales del Trabajo Social) and Alejandro Santiago Calderón and from legislators' exchanges reading and discussing Senate Bill 184.