Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) banned gender transition surgeries for minors by executive order Friday, one week after vetoing House Bill 68, which would have banned both transition-related surgeries and hormonal therapies for minors with gender dysphoria.
The Republican governor has faced significant backlash from conservative politicians and advocacy groups about his decision to veto the Save Adolescents from Experimentation, or SAFE Act, which passed the Ohio legislature with veto-proof majorities in both chambers.
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“A week has gone by, and I still feel as firmly about that as I did that day,” DeWine told reporters Friday. “I believe parents rather than government should be making those important medical decisions.”
DeWine spoke with families with children who underwent medical transitions, some of whom were satisfied with their results and others who subsequently detransitioned.
DeWine said last week and repeated on Friday that the majority of families and healthcare providers did not seek surgical interventions, such as mastectomy or vaginoplasty, for minors. Rather, opponents of the legislation wanted to ensure hormonal therapies, including puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, were available.
“This is something that the entire time when I talked to families, not once did they mention they want to have surgery on their minor child,” DeWine said. “That was never mentioned.”
DeWine said that his executive order “just assures everybody that that will never happen.”
Matt Sharp of the legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom, who provided legislative testimony during the drafting of HB 68, told the Washington Examiner that blocking surgeries is insufficient.
“DeWine’s efforts do not help Ohio’s kids,” said Sharp. “They continue to represent the betrayal of what the legislature was trying to do.”
When the governor vetoed HB 68, he said he shared certain goals that the legislation tried to achieve but that those objectives would better withstand the scrutiny of legal challenges if implemented instead through the regulatory process. Sharp said he disagrees with the governor, arguing that legislation is the more fitting approach.
“This legislation represents the will of the people,” Sharp said of HB 68. “This is how we want our laws to be enacted. … This is the best process where the legislature fulfills its role, passing laws that protect the health and safety of its citizens, especially vulnerable children.”
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Although the Ohio legislature was initially not scheduled to meet until the end of January, the state House is set to reconvene early Wednesday. HB 68 passed within a 75% margin in the House.
“We hope that this only further energizes the legislature to move forward and to override the veto, and in fact, enact the whole protections for Ohio’s kids,” said Sharp.
