GOP governor vetoes a ban on gender-affirming care for minors
COLUMBUS, OHIO >> Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed a measure Friday that would have banned gender-affirming care for minors, casting the action out of step with many in his own party as thoughtful, limited and “pro-life.”
He simultaneously announced plans to move to administratively ban transgender surgeries until a person is 18 and to position the state to better regulate and track gender-affirming treatments in both children and adults.
At a news conference, DeWine said he hoped the hybrid approach could win the support of legislative Republicans — who immediately signaled they're considering a veto override — as well as serve as a national model to states, as gender-affirming care restrictions enacted across the country in recent years face lawsuits.
The vetoed bill also would have banned transgender
athletes' participation in girls' and women's sports.
DeWine said he listened to people on both sides of the legislation who all “sincerely and truly believe their position best protects children,” ultimately deciding he could not support legislation that bans health care so many patients, families and doctors told him
is saving lives.
“Ultimately, these tough, tough decisions should not be made by the government. They should not be made by the state of Ohio,” DeWine said. “They should be made by the people who love these kids the most, and that's the parents. The parents who have raised that child, the parents who have seen that child go through agony, the parents who worry about that child every single day of their life.”
The governor's veto drew swift rebukes Friday from supporters of genderaffirming care bans, both in the state and nationally.
Republican Bernie Moreno, a Trump-endorsed candidate for the U.S. Senate, and Center for Christian Virtue President Aaron Baer both called on the Legislature to override his veto.
“Mike DeWine has failed Ohio, and it's our children who are going to pay the price,” Baer said in a statement.
Terry Schilling, president of the conservative American Principles Project, said in a statement that DeWine had succumbed to “egregious lies” being perpetuated about transgender care. He said history would remember that DeWine “gave into cowardice and caved to the transgender industry that is preying on so many vulnerable individuals.”