BY MEGAN HENRY
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order that bans hospitals and ambulatory surgical facilities from performing gender transition surgeries on minors. No Ohio children’s hospital currently performs gender-affirming surgery on patients under 18.
“This will ensure that surgeries of this type on minors can never happen in Ohio,” DeWine said Friday morning during a press conference.
This comes one week after DeWine vetoed House Bill 68, which would ban transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming care, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy. The bill would also prevent transgender athletes from playing women’s sports, but DeWine said his focus was on the health care portion of the bill.
Regarding the surgery ban executive order, DeWine said it’s a good way to take this issue off the table and ensure that there are no surgeries going on for minors.
“This is just to make sure that this kind of thing doesn’t happen to a minor in the state of Ohio,” he said.
DeWine announced he is also taking steps with the Ohio Department of Health to begin collecting non-identifying data of gender dysphoria cases. He said collecting aggregate data happens frequently in Ohio — citing flu cases, food poisoning, and abortion data.
“No one will be able to look at the data and tell who it is,” DeWine said.
State Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery, is the sponsor of HB 68 and said he supports DeWine’s efforts, but more needs to be done.
“The governor’s temporary administrative orders are no substitute for solid legislation,” Click said in a statement.
TransOhio was appalled by DeWine’s Friday announcement.
“In many ways, his proposals are worse the HB68,” TransOhio said in a statement.
Fly-by-night clinics
DeWine’s administration is also cracking down on “fly-by-night” clinics that don’t provide enough mental health counseling. The governor is proposing a requirement for a comprehensive care plan that would include a multi-disciplinary team including endocrinologists and psychiatrists for adults and minors.
“It’s clear that the most important part is the mental health counseling,” DeWine said. “It needs to be lengthy and it needs to be comprehensive.”
DeWine wasn’t able to cite any complaints about any such clinics operating in Ohio when asked during his news conference.
Banning surgeries for minors, collecting informational data, and combating “fly-by-night” clinics were the three things DeWine said he was going to pursue when he vetoed HB 68 on Dec. 29.
Potential veto override
The Ohio House Republicans are coming back early from winter break in an attempt to override the governor’s veto and several Republican lawmakers have said they intend on voting to override DeWine’s veto.
“I made the decision and it’s the right decision as far as I’m concerned,” DeWine said when asked about backlash he has received from his own party.
“If I were to sign it I would say that the government knows better than parents about their own child’s health care,” he said.
A three-fifths vote of the members of the House and Senate is necessary to override the governor’s veto – meaning 59 representatives and 20 senators.
The numbers are there based on previous votes. HB 68 passed in December with 24 votes in the Senate and 62 votes in the House. The bill originally passed the House with 64 votes in June.
“I’m not going to get my crystal ball out,” DeWine said when asked if he was concerned about the lawmakers overriding his veto.
He also said he’s not considering an executive order saying the lawmaker can’t limit or restrict gender affirming care.
“One should respect the legislative process,” DeWine said.
He said he wasn’t sure if the executive order will sway lawmakers from overriding his veto.
“I don’t know what it’ll do, but I’m doing it because it’s important to do,” he said. “The House is obviously coming back and says they are coming back to vote on this next week, and that’s fine. They have a constitutional right to do that.”
Marijuana
With the House coming back next week, DeWine said it could be a good time for them to bring marijuana legislation to the floor. The Ohio House and Senate ended the year without passing any marijuana legislation.
Even though marijuana is legal in Ohio, there is currently nowhere to legally buy recreational weed.
“We’ll continue to see the black market grow,” DeWine said.
The Ohio Senate passed House Bill 86 by a bipartisan vote which would increase the marijuana tax rate to 15%, limit home grow to six plants per household, change how the revenue is distributed, and add automatic expungement. The House has yet to bring it back to the floor.
