Ohio House overrides DeWine veto on minor gender affirming care ban

The 65-28 vote was more than enough to clear the three-fifths bar required to override a veto. The motion now heads to the Senate, which doesn’t meet again until late January.

If enacted, the Save Adolescents From Experimentation Act would disallow common gender affirming care treatments. Those treatments include hormones to stave off the effects of puberty; masculinizing or feminizing hormones to reverse the effects of puberty; and gender affirming surgeries including genital reconstruction (known as “bottom” surgery) and double mastectomies or breast enhancements (known as “top” surgery).

The law does contain a provision to allow minors already undergoing medical care to continue their hormone treatments.

Wednesday’s proceedings — the third time the House voted overwhelmingly to approve House Bill 68 — displayed a significant disconnect between Ohio’s Republican governor and its Republican-dominated legislature.

At the tail end of 2023, DeWine defended his veto saying that hormone treatments have saved the lives of minors in the state and should be allowed to continue. He later moved to ban gender affirming surgeries on minors and set standards on gender affirming care through executive order that advocates have suggested would greatly limit the accessibility of care.

The bill’s primary sponsor Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery, a Baptist pastor in northern Ohio, said he was upset when DeWine used the term “gender affirming care.” The lawmaker called it a “superstitious slogan.”

“It teaches that there is some gender that is distinct from your sex,” Click said on the House floor. “There’s no science to prove that; there’s no blood tests, there’s no DNA tests, it’s just someone who comes in and tells you that you have to accept it as real.”

House Democrats reiterated their staunch opposition to the bill, largely on the grounds that they believe it would take away from parental rights and that it would negatively impact transgender minors who, if the bill were to go into effect, will be blocked from beginning their medical transition at a young age.

“H.B. 68 is a bill that will lead to an increase of deaths and an increase in families having to leave Ohio to give their kids the best care possible,” said Rep. Anita Somani, D-Dublin, an OBGYN for over 30 years.

The bill also contains the Save Women’s Sports Act, which blocks transgender girls from participating in women’s and girl’s scholastic sports — an initiative House Republicans believe is essential to protect women athletes and their opportunity, while chamber Democrats believe is needlessly exclusionary.

Credit: Avery Kreemer

Credit: Avery Kreemer

Local Rep. Jena Powell, R-Arcanum, said she has worked for years to get the legislation through.

“It’s an exciting day here in the state of Ohio. We’ve been working a very long time on this crucial piece of legislation,” Powell told this news organization. “We’re really excited for Ohioans and our hope is that the Senate takes it up very quickly and passes it so Ohioans can be protected.”