Ohio House overrides DeWine’s veto of bill banning gender-affirming care

The Ohio House of Representatives voted Wednesday to override Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto of a bill targeting gender-affirming care for transgender youths and the participation of transgender girls in middle school and high school sports.

The override of House Bill 68, titled the “Saving Adolescents From Experimentation Act,” passed 65-28, above the three-fifths threshold to overcome a gubernatorial veto. The vote was along party lines and closely mirrored the original vote to pass the measure.

The bill seeks to ban gender-affirming care, including hormone replacement therapy and hormone surgeries, in Ohio for patients under the age of 18. It also would prohibit transgender girls from participating in middle school and high school sports.

The bill now heads to the Ohio Senate, which will next convene on Jan. 24. Three-fifths of the state Senate must also vote to override the governor’s veto for the bill to become law.

Republicans in the legislature argued that the veto was necessary to protect children and ensure that women’s sports were not adversely affected.

“Treatment for children is available as mental health counseling,” Rep. Tracy Richardson, a Republican from Marysville, said.

Many Ohio legislators used heated language to advance their points during Wednesday’s hearing, with Rep. Josh Williams, a Republican from Sylvania and a proponent of the override, comparing gender-affirming care to “genital mutilation.”

But some Republican representatives, including Rep. Gail Pavliga, focused on the sports section of the bill, avoiding the gender-affirming care components. These critics say the measure would level the playing field for female athletes.

“Today, I voted to empower parents, protect children, and maintain the integrity of women’s sports in Ohio,” Pavliga, a Republican from Portage County, shared in a press release.

Democrats, meanwhile, condemned the override and the bill as an example of government overreach.

“Ultimately, this is about protecting human life,” Rep. Michael Skindell, a Democrat from Lakewood, said. “Letting this become law would say that the state knows what’s best medically for the child rather than the two people who know their child the best — the parents.”

Skindell urged his colleagues to vote to keep the veto, citing how parents reached out to him to share stories about transgender medical care saving their children’s lives.

The vote comes on the heels of DeWine’s Dec. 29 veto. Citing conversations he had with the families of transgender youths, DeWine said that while he had concerns, his veto was about “protecting human life” and protecting parents’ rights to make decisions about their childrens’ well-being.

The veto earned the moderate governor intense criticism from his fellow Republicans, who accused DeWine of not being a true GOP member and doing nothing to protect children from “abuse.”

The fight over gender-affirming care for transgender patients has roiled state capitals across the nation. More than a dozen conservative-led states, including Florida, have also imposed strict restrictions on such treatment for minors.

DeWine followed his veto with a Jan. 5 executive order directing the state’s department of health and department of mental health and addiction to implement new rules around gender-affirming care. Among the provisions of the new rules are a 120-day ban on gender-affirming surgeries for young people below the age of 18 and a requirement that an endocrinologist and psychiatrist must prepare a detransition plan approved by a medical ethicist before patients of all ages can receive gender-affirming care.

These new rules have prompted criticism from LGBTQ+ advocacy groups and civil right groups, who argue that DeWine’s order increases burdens for accessing life-saving care and goes beyond other states in restricting adults’ access to gender-affirming care.