Current:Home > ScamsOhio governor signs order barring minors from gender-affirming surgery as veto override looms -Streamline Finance
Ohio governor signs order barring minors from gender-affirming surgery as veto override looms
View
Date:2025-04-16 02:55:41
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A week after vetoing legislation that would have banned all forms of gender-affirming care for minors in Ohio, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order Friday barring Ohioans from receiving transgender surgeries until they’re 18.
The bill passed by both chambers along party lines last year would have banned gender-affirming surgeries, as well as hormone therapies, and restricted mental health care for transgender individuals under 18. While DeWine’s order does ban such surgeries for minors, it does not put limits on hormone therapies or the type of mental health care minors can receive. It takes effect immediately.
“A week has gone by, and I still feel just as firmly as I did that day,” DeWine said, doubling down on his decision to veto the broader restrictions. “I believe the parents, not the government, should be making these crucial decisions for their children.”
In announcing his veto last week, the governor said medical professionals he consulted with told him such surgeries aren’t happening, anyway, and families with transgender children did not advocate for them.
“This will ensure that surgeries of this type on minors can never happen in Ohio,” DeWine said in Friday’s press conference, adding that the executive order takes the issue “off the table” and provides clear guidelines.
The move comes as an effort by the GOP-dominated Legislature to override DeWine’s veto looms next week. The Ohio House has scheduled a session where a vote is expected Wednesday, while the Ohio Senate will vote on Jan. 24.
DeWine said Friday that he has also directed the Ohio Department of Health and the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to take action.
The departments filed proposed administrative rules Friday that would ensure both transgender children and adults are not receiving treatment from what he called “fly-by-night” clinics or providers outside of proper healthcare systems.
The proposal would mandate a team for transgender individuals seeking gender-affirming care that would consist of, at a minimum, an endocrinologist, a bioethicist and a psychiatrist.
As part of their care plan, transgender individuals also must provide “sufficient informed consent” for gender-affirming care after comprehensive and lengthy mental health counseling, under the rules. For minors, parents also would have to give informed consent.
Additionally, the departments must also collect data submitted by providers on gender dysphoria and subsequent treatment, and his plan calls for the agencies to inform lawmakers, policy makers and the public.
These rules, unlike the executive order, are not in effect immediately. However, both the proposed rules and executive order are subject to change even though the executive order is effective — due to an emergency order. They must still go through the rule-making process with several state panels, including lawmakers, and opportunity for public comment.
Even if the Legislature chooses to override the veto, DeWine said his administration will continue to pursue these rules and that he is working with his legal team to ensure that his administration can implement them.
“We’re doing this because we think it’s the right thing to do,” the governor said.
___
Samantha Hendrickson is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues
veryGood! (62352)
Related
- Jury finds man guilty of sending 17-year-old son to rob and kill rapper PnB Rock
- Poland’s new parliament brings back state financing for in vitro fertilization
- Thinking about a new iPhone? Try a factory reset instead to make your old device feel new
- Consumer Reports pummels EV reliability, says hybrids have significantly fewer problems
- Elon Musk’s Daughter Vivian Calls Him “Absolutely Pathetic” and a “Serial Adulterer”
- On 1st day, UN climate conference sets up fund for countries hit by disasters like flood and drought
- McDonald's unveils new celebrity meal box with Kerwin Frost: Here's what's in it
- Massive iceberg is 'on the move' near Antarctica after sitting still for decades
- Costco membership growth 'robust,' even amid fee increase: What to know about earnings release
- Search remains suspended for 4 missing crewmembers in Mississippi River
Ranking
- Megan Fox's ex Brian Austin Green tells Machine Gun Kelly to 'grow up'
- U.S. moves to protect wolverines as climate change melts their mountain refuges
- 4 news photographers shot, wounded in southern Mexico
- Liam Hemsworth Shares How Girlfriend Gabriella Brooks Is Bonding With Brothers Luke and Chris Hemsworth
- Video shows dog chewing cellphone battery pack, igniting fire in Oklahoma home
- Consumer Reports pummels EV reliability, says hybrids have significantly fewer problems
- Average US life expectancy increases by more than one year, but not to pre-pandemic levels
- Texas man who set fire to an Austin synagogue sentenced to 10 years
Recommendation
Meet 11-year-old skateboarder Zheng Haohao, the youngest Olympian competing in Paris
Henry Kissinger was a trusted confidant to President Nixon until the bitter, bizarre end
Shannen Doherty Details Horrible Reaction After Brain Tumor Surgery
A forgotten trove of rare video games could now be worth six figures
How effective is the Hyundai, Kia anti-theft software? New study offers insights.
Harris plans to attend the COP28 climate summit
Families of American hostages in Gaza describe their anguish and call on US government for help
Ohio bill to ban diversity training requirements in higher education stalls in GOP House