Ohio Republicans on Wednesday successfully banned transgender hormone treatments and procedures from being performed on children, and barred boys and men from competing against girls and women in athletic competitions.
Republicans in the Ohio state Senate voted to override Republican Governor Mike DeWine’s veto of the bill, following House Republicans’ January 10 vote to do the same, with that vote ending up 65-28, as The Daily Wire previously reported.
House Bill 68 is made up of two acts: the “Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act” and the “Save Women’s Sports Act.” It bans transgender procedures on minors, such as double mastectomies on girls who identify as boys, and other genital procedures for children with gender dysphoria. It also prohibits males from competing in female sports across the state, grades K-12, and the collegiate level.
When DeWine initially vetoed the bill, he argued that passing the it would hinder parental rights.
“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,” he said.
He also made the claim that he was acting to preserve “life.”
“Ultimately, I believe this is about protecting human life,” DeWine said. “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. I’ve also been told by those who are now grown adults that but for this care, they would have taken their life when they were teenagers.”
Though Republicans are generally in agreement that these types of irreversible procedures are harmful for children and therefore should be banned, Republicans like former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie have argued in the way of DeWine.
While making his short-lived 2024 presidential bid, Christie argued that procedures like double mastectomies and penis-removing vaginoplasty surgeries are a “parent’s decision.”
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“I don’t think that the government should ever be stepping into the place of the parents in helping to move their children through a process where those children are confused or concerned about their gender,” Christie told CNN. “The parents are the people who are best positioned to make these judgments.”
“What I’d like to make sure each state does is require that parents be involved in these decisions,” he added. “Folks who are under the age of 18 should have parental support and guidance and love as they make all of the key decisions of their life, and this should not be one that’s excluded by the government in any way.”
The law will take effect in about three months.
Zach Jewell contributed to this report.