Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed a bill that would have banned gender-distorting medical care for minors.
“This bill would impact a very small number of Ohio’s children. But for those children who face gender dysphoria, the consequences of this bill could not be more profound. Ultimately I believe this is about protecting human life,” Gov. DeWine said at a Friday press event. “Many parents have told me that their child would not have survived, would be dead today, if they had not received the treatment they received from one of Ohio’s children’s hospitals. These are gut-wrenching decisions that should be made by parents and should be informed by teams of doctors who are advising them. Were I to sign House Bill 68, or were House Bill 68 to become law, Ohio would be saying that the state, that the government knows better what is medically best for a child than the two people who love that child the most, the parents.”
The bill would have also created single-sex athletic teams, an effort to protect girls from unfair competition by boys who believe they are girls and who compete as girls against real girls.
Republicans hold a supermajority in the legislature and could override the veto.
