Ohio governor vetoes transgender youth healthcare ban
Friday, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine took the extraordinary step of vetoing a bill that would have banned gender-affirming care for transgender youth in Ohio.
His move will be remembered alongside famous vetoes by Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas and Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah, who opposed anti-transgender measures proposed by Republican legislatures in their states.
Due to DeWine’s veto, the bill must now return to the Ohio legislature, where a three-fifths vote is required to override the veto and pass the bill over the governor’s objections. “Parents have looked me in the eye and told me that but for this treatment, their child would be dead,” DeWine said to reporters in a press briefing. “And youth who are transgender have told me they are thriving today because of their transition.” He then spoke about his individual discussions with those parents: “What so many of these young people and their families have also told me was that nothing they’ve ever faced in their life could prepare them for this tough journey.
Parents are making decisions for the most precious thing in their life: their child. These are gut wrenching decisions that should be made by parents, and should be informed by teams of doctors that are advising them.” He then reiterated the importance parents rights, “While the parents doctors inform those decisions, it is the parents who know their child best … Were Ohio to pass HB 68, Ohio would be saying that the state knows what is better, what is medically best for the child, than the two people who love that child the most: The parents.” When asked what was the biggest influence on his decision, he cited his conversation with parents as well as testimony from directors and doctors of Ohio’s Children’s Hospitals, which rank #1 in the U.S.
