For the third time, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a bill banning gender-transition procedures for minors, but for the first time, Republican legislators had the votes to overcome her veto.
The Kansas House and Senate voted Tuesday to override the Democratic governor’s veto of Senate Bill 63, dubbed the Help Not Harm Act, which forbids health providers from prescribing drugs and surgeries to those under 18 seeking to change their gender.
The House vote was 84-35 and the Senate vote was 31-9. No Democratic legislators voted with Republicans to support the override.
“Today, a supermajority of the Kansas Senate declared that Kansas is no longer a sanctuary state for the maiming and sterilization of minors,” said Senate President Ty Masterson after the vote. “This action is also consistent with President Trump’s Executive Order to stop these barbaric procedures nationwide.”
Mr. Trump’s order signed on Jan. 28 directs agencies to ensure that medical institutions receiving federal research funding “end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children,” referring to patients under 19. The order was temporarily blocked last week by two federal judges.
The veto override makes Kansas the 25th state to ban gender-transition surgeries, puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors. Another two states ban only such surgeries.
Ms. Kelly blasted the bill in her Feb. 11 veto message as an effort to inject “government interference in Kansans’ private medical decisions instead of focusing on issues that improve all Kansans’ lives.”
“Infringing on parental rights is not appropriate, nor is it a Kansas value,” Ms. Kelly said. “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. This legislation will also drive families, businesses, and health care workers out of our state, stifling our economy and exacerbating our workforce shortage issue.”
The Democratic governor vetoed similar bills in 2024 and 2023. Her veto of legislation barring male-born athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports based on gender identity was overridden in 2023.
Cheering the legislature’s override was Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Matt Sharp, who said the bill would protect children from “risky, often irreversible, and life-altering experimentation and drugs.”
“By overriding the governor’s misguided veto, the Kansas Legislature has taken a critical step to protect children from radical activists that peddle a gender ideology that sends kids down a one-way path of lifetime medicalization,” Mr. Sharp said.
The bill also prohibits using state funds to “promote gender transitioning,” raising concerns from foes about restricting school counselors and social workers in their work with children.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas opposed the veto override, calling the bill a “politicized attack on medical professionals, state employees, and mental health practitioners.”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.