The Kansas Legislature moved to outlaw “transgender” medical interventions for minors when it voted to override Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of the Help Not Harm Act on Feb. 18.
The Republican-led House voted 85-34 along party lines to override the governor’s veto, and the Senate sent the bill through 31-9, also along party lines, with only Republicans voting to override.
“Today, a supermajority of the Kansas Senate declared that Kansas is no longer a sanctuary state for the maiming and sterilization of minors,” Republican Senate President Ty Masterson said in a statement following the vote. “This action is also consistent with President Trump’s executive order to stop these barbaric procedures nationwide.”
Senate Bill 63, known as the Help Not Harm Act, prohibits health care providers from treating a child whose gender identity is inconsistent with the child’s sex. The act also restricts the use of state funds to promote gender “transitioning” and requires that health care providers who perform so-called sex-change treatments for minors are professionally disciplined.
This legislation follows President Donald Trump’s recent executive order “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” which cut federal funding that supported sex-change surgeries for minors under 19 years of age.
Kelly vetoed the bill after it passed the state House 83-35 on Jan. 31.
“Right now, the Legislature should be focused on ways to help Kansans cope with rising prices. That is the most important issue for Kansans. That is where my focus is,” Kelly said in a press release.
She said the bill would effectively infringe on parental rights.
“As I’ve said before, it is not the job of politicians to stand between a parent and a child who needs medical care of any kind,” she said. “This legislation will also drive families, businesses, and health care workers out of our state, stifling our economy and exacerbating our workforce shortage issue.”
Charli Huddleston, director of communications for Heritage Action for America, a conservative policy advocacy organization affiliated with The Heritage Foundation, disagreed with the governor’s claims.
“Parental choice does not extend to body mutilation,” Huddleston told The Daily Signal. “If a parent wished their child to be left-handed, they don’t have the choice to cut the right hand off. In the same way, parents should safeguard their children from life-long bodily harm caused by sex-change surgeries.”
Kansas’ House of Representatives Republican leadership responded to the override of the governor’s veto, calling the governor’s opposition reckless.
“Gov. Kelly chose to side with the radical Left, but this override now ensures that the act will become law—bringing Kansas in line with multiple other states and nations that already protect vulnerable minors from the life-altering effects of medicalized gender transition interventions,” the statement from House leadership said.
Heritage Action for America was involved at the grassroots level in supporting this legislation and congratulated the Legislature on overriding the governor’s veto.
“Experimental surgeries and dangerous cross-sex hormones cause permanent physical and psychological damage—they should be banned for children at all costs,” said Catherine Gunsalus, former Kansas assistant secretary of state and Heritage Action director of state advocacy. “Radical progressives like Gov. Kelly ignore the risks and biological facts in favor of pushing an agenda that puts children in harm’s way.”