Republican Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio issued a veto of a bill Friday that would ban doctors from performing sex-change medical procedures on minors and bar biological males from competing in women’s sports.
The bill was introduced by Republican state Rep. Gary Click in February and overwhelmingly approved by the Ohio House of Representatives and the state Senate earlier this month. DeWine went on at length during a press conference about his discussions with families who claimed that their children would be dead without “gender-affirming care,” and just hours before the deadline, the governor said that he had vetoed the bill. (RELATED: ‘Courage Is Required’: Days Before Deadline, Ohio Gov Has Yet To Sign Bill Banning Sex-Change Procedures For Minors)
“Were I to sign House Bill 68 … Ohio would be saying that the government knows better what is medically best for the child than the two people who love that child the most, the parents,” DeWine said. “Now, while there are rare times in the law in other circumstances, where the state overrules the medical decisions made by their parents, I can think of no example, where this is done not only against the decision of the parents but also against the medical judgment of the treating physician and against the judgment of the treating team of medical experts. Therefore, I cannot sign this bill as it is currently written.”
ACLU march participants carry signs in support of rights for transgender people during the 2023 LA Pride Parade in Hollywood on June 11, 2023, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The bill banned doctors from prescribing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, and from performing transgender surgeries on minors, according to the text. DeWine said during the press conference that his administration is going to work to draft rules to prevent minors from accessing this kind of medical treatment.
DeWine did not clarify when asked if he was just opposed to banning “non-surgical gender-affirming treatments.”
“I’m in favor of what I’ve said, which is what I’m in favor of parents making these very difficult decisions, not the government,” he said.
DeWine also made little mention of the sports ban until asked about it by reporters. The governor, who has previously expressed his disapproval of transgender sports bans, claimed that he focused on the part of the bill that “affected the most people.”
“The second sports part of this bill is certainly important, but it affects just a handful, literally a handful of children. The part that I’ve addressed, affects many more … and I did not ever get to the second or second issue and that’s enough for one gulp at this anyway.”
Click did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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