Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoes transgender healthcare, sports bill
Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed House Bill 68 on Friday, a piece of legislation that would have banned healthcare professionals from providing gender-affirming care to transgender minors and ban transgender females from playing girls’ sports if it passed.
“I believe this is about protecting human life. Many parents have told me that their child would not have survived - would be dead today - if they would not have received the treatment they received from one of Ohio’s children’s hospitals,” Gov. DeWine began on Friday. “I’ve also been told by those who are now grown adults, if it weren’t for this care, they would have taken their life when they were teenagers.”
“Parents are making decisions about the most precious thing in their life - their child,” he explained. “And none of us should underestimate the gravity and difficulty of those decisions. These are gut-wrenching decisions, these are gut-wrenching decisions that should be made by parents and should be informed by teams of doctors who are advising them.”
“But ultimately, these tough, tough decisions should not be made by the government, they should not be made by the State of Ohio,” DeWine said to the media.
H.B. 68 will go back to the lawmakers and DeWine’s veto could be overridden despite the rules his administration plans to draft up.
There were sufficient votes for the bill that it could be overridden; however, DeWine has made a great case for not doing that.
While DeWine expressed some of his deepest values in this decision (pro-life and pro-family) it was also a smart political move since this bill if enacted would be seen as another example of Ohio Republicans imposing their values on the people, e.g. they are still trying to find ways to get around the expressed will of the people in the last election when they approved abortion and marijuana rights.
ReplyDeleteDeWine seems like an intelligent person and not just another MAGA-bot.
ReplyDeleteJack, I agree with your take. It's a courageous decision by DeWine. I hope it's the right one.
ReplyDeleteEvaluating the wisdom of transgender therapies in teenagers is frankly beyond my pay grade. But government interference doesn't promise better judgments in these matters. Interesting how a dose of humanity makes a Republican governor into a compassionate civic leader.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Most legislative initiatives are focused less on the people involved in difficult and poorly understood medical or mental health situations, and more on making purity points with "their" side. I think that's true for culture warriors on both the left and right. People get worked up, distill arguments to slogans that fit on a protest sign, nuance and real understanding go out the window, and public policy suffers.
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