Ohio Governor Vetoes Bill Banning Transgender Medical Care for Young People

I am thankful that late last week Ohio Governor Mike DeWine vetoed House Bill 68, the bill that would have prohibited transgender youth from getting medical and mental health care in Ohio. Among a number of ideological culture war bills being considered this year by Ohio’s gerrymandered, supermajority, GOP legislature—House Bill 68 is the cruelest to vulnerable young people and their families.

At a Friday morning news conference, Governor DeWine declared: “Were House Bill 68 to become law, Ohio would be saying that the government knows better what is medically best for a child than the two people who love the child the most—the parents… I cannot sign this bill as it currently written and just a few minutes ago, I vetoed the bill.”

The Ohio Capital Journal‘s David DeWitt describes the bill and its passage by the Ohio legislature on December 12: “Republicans in the Ohio Senate passed House Bill 68 in a 24-8 vote Wednesday afternoon, and Republicans in the Ohio House concurred with the Senate amendments in a 61-27 vote Wednesday night. The bill blocks doctors from providing gender-affirming care to trans youth, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, and prevents trans athletes from participating in Ohio women’s sports. A grandfather clause would allow doctors who already started treatment on patients to continue.”

DeWitt continues, explaining some obviously accessible information legislators did not consider as they crafted Ohio House Bill 68: “No Ohio children’s hospital currently performs gender-affirming surgery on those under 18, and gender-affirming care is supported by every major medical organization in the United States. The Ohio Children’s Hospital Association, the Ohio Psychological Association, the Ohio Counseling Association, the Ohio Council of Behavioral Health Providers, the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians, Cleveland Clinic Children’s, Cincinnati Children’s, Nationwide Children’s, Dayton Children’s, Akron Children’s, the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Physicians Action Network, all oppose HB 68.”  “There were only six transgender high school female student athletes last year in Ohio. Only three were approved to play for the spring sports season. There are approximately 400,000 athletes participating in 7-12 athletics in the state, according to Ohio High School Athletic Association. Those three trans athletes this past spring represent 0.0000075%.”

DeWine’s explanation of his veto was compassionate, moral, well researched, and extremely unusual in the context of Ohio’s current culture war political maelstrom. In Friday’s press conference, the Governor bent over backwards to appear supportive of his Republican colleagues in the legislature. He complimented their efforts to address a difficult issue, but at the same time he demonstrated the kind of careful investigation that has been notably absent in recent months as legislators have pushed forward ideological bills many of them originating in far-right, nationwide bill mills like the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Trying to forestall a move by the legislature to override his veto, DeWine invited legislators to work with him to shape rules to address concerns about care for transgender children and adults. News 5‘s Morgan Trau and the Associated Press’s Joe Donatelli explain: “DeWine said he believed there were administrative actions that could address the main concerns of the bill and announced a three-prong approach. He is directing agencies to ban surgery on those under 18 as part of gender-affirming care. He said he believes it’s a ‘fallacy out there that this goes right to surgery’. (Not one such surgery has taken place for a minor in Ohio.) He agreed with the legislature that there was no comprehensive data on those who receive gender-affirming care, and will direct relevant agencies to report findings to the legislature and (the) public about minors and adults seeking care. Lastly, DeWine said his administration will draft rules and restrictions to prevent ‘pop up clinics or fly-by-night operations,”’ so families receive ‘adequate counseling’ regarding gender-affirming care.”  DeWine declared that counseling and mental health care must be comprehensive and provided by expert professional teams.

DeWine described discussions he has held since mid-December with doctors from several of Ohio’s children’s hospitals and interviews with parents of children seeking medical treatment for their children’s gender dysphoria as well as conversations with young people and adults who have sought and received care. DeWine’s description of his obligation to investigate the medical and human consequences of HB 68 contrasts with Plain Dealer reporter Laura Hancock’s quotation of a recent comment from Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman: “‘So we don’t make laws just for the hundreds of people that come and testify. We make laws for over 11 million people,’ Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman said recently when asked about moving an anti-trans bill despite heavy opposition among those who testified.”

The NY Times’ Amy Harmon reported that Governor DeWine’s veto of Ohio HB 68 stands out in a year when 20 states have passed bills curtailing medical care for trans minors: “Before this year, only three states had passed restrictions on gender transition medical care for minors, according to a New York Times analysis. The count now stands at more than 20. Several dozen laws including ones on how gender can be discussed in classrooms, what bathrooms transgender students can use and whether they can participate in school sports have been enacted this year… About 100,000 transgender minors live in the 23 states that have passed laws restricting gender-affirming care… Federal judges have blocked enforcement of the laws in some states and let them go into effect in others.  Many families, fearing the abrupt cutoff of a child’s treatment, have moved across state lines.”

The controversy about these bills is not limited to Ohio. On December 22, the Associated Press‘s Brendan Farrington reported from Florida: “A federal judge hearing a challenge to a transgender health care ban for minors and restrictions for adults noted Thursday that Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis repeatedly spread false information about doctors mutilating children’s genitals even though there’s been no such documented cases. The law was sold as defending children from mutilation when it is actually about preventing trans children from getting health care, Judge Robert Hinkle said…. ‘When I’m analyzing the governor’s motivation, what should I make of these statements?… This seems to be more than just hyperbole.’ Hinkle said he will rule sometime in the new year on whether the Legislature, the Department of Health, and presidential candidate DeSantis deliberately targeted transgender people through the new law.”