Lawmakers in Ohio approved a ban on gender transition surgeries for children on Monday, just ahead of a deadline that would have reinstated them.
The move comes after Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) came under intense national scrutiny for vetoing a comprehensive child medical transition ban, which included puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and surgeries. DeWine decided in January to sign an executive order only banning surgeries, a move critics considered a half-measure.
A panel of lawmakers who make up the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review took action on Monday to maintain the surgical ban for Ohioans under 18 before the executive order was set to expire at the beginning of May.
A DeWine spokesperson told WCMH that Ohio has a “pretty clear consensus” about surgical interventions for minors.
Democratic state Sen. Bill DeMora, who is a member of the joint committee, slammed Republicans for voting to enshrine the ban on surgeries, saying, “These rules have no legal basis, are not helpful, and just further show the depths that Ohio Republicans will go to make Ohio as inhospitable as possible to the most persecuted groups.”
The rules do offer exceptions in specific circumstances, such as for a minor who has a “medically verifiable disorder of sex development,” for a child who needs to have past medical interventions rectified, or for a person who “needs treatment for any infection, injury, disease, or disorder that has been caused or exacerbated by the performance of gender transition services, whether or not the services were performed in accordance with state or federal law.”
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DeWine’s decision to reject the comprehensive House Bill 68 in late December was swiftly overridden by Republicans in the state legislature on Jan. 10. The bill is set to go into effect in late April. Lawmakers who voted to override noted the experimental nature of the medical interventions and the fact that parents are often pressured by doctors into allowing their children to pursue transition.
The bill is also the subject of a legal battle from the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit in late March to stop the law from going into effect. While it is unclear how the lawsuit could affect the implementation of the full bill, the surgical ban will remain in effect indefinitely.