On Wednesday, the Ohio Senate voted to override Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto of a bill that would protect minors from experimental transgender surgeries and treatments and keep biological males out of women’s sports.
HB-68, the Enact Ohio Saving Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act, bans physicians from performing sex-reassignment surgeries on minors and from treating them with puberty-blocking hormones. It gives student-athletes the right to sue if they’re not given a level playing field in sports due to biological males competing in women’s sports and protects the rights of parents to raise their children with the biological sex corresponding to their DNA.
After the bill passed both houses of the legislature by a wide margin, DeWine, a Republican, vetoed it, claiming it went too far. A week later, he issued an “emergency” executive order banning trans surgeries for minors.
When he vetoed HB-68, DeWine claimed, without evidence, “Ultimately, I believe this is about protecting human life. Many parents have told me that their child would not have survived, would be dead today. They would have taken their life when they were teenagers.”
The legislature wasn’t having his ill-conceived attempt to come up with a “consensus” on the issue. On Jan. 10, the House voted 65-28 to override the veto. The Senate agreed on Wednesday with a 24-8 vote. Sen. Nathan Manning was the lone Republican to vote against the override.
A pro-child-mutilation activist interrupted Republican Sen. Kristina Roegner’s speech ahead of the vote, singing, “Jesus Loves the Little Children.”
first round of remarks, by Sen. Kristina Roegner, is delayed as a protester is removed from the chamber. if this override passes, HB 68 becomes law (in 90 days) pic.twitter.com/uhBw7geGmH
— sarah donaldson (@SarahEDon) January 24, 2024
Rep. Gary Glick, the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement, “The Ohio Senate deserves to be commended today for its commitment to protecting women and children by overriding the governor’s veto of House Bill 68. The SAFE Act and Save Women’s Sports Act are the civil rights issues of our day, ensuring that children have the right to grow up intact and that women are no longer subject to men invading their spaces.”
Related: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine Has Lost His Mind on Transing Children
Rep. Jena Powell called it a “Great day for Ohio women.”
VETO OVERRIDEN – the bill becomes law in OHIO.
I promised to fight for integrity in women’s sports and I did not give up until we won.
Great day for Ohio women.
— Jena Powell (@JennnnaPowell) January 24, 2024
The usual suspects are no doubt running to their favorite judges to get it overturned as I write this.
The bad news is that even if they do vote to override the bill, it will likely face court challenges based on the loose language in Issue 1, which Ohioans approved at the ballot box last year. It was mostly focused on abortion rights, but the wording is so vague that it can be applied to other areas as well. It states, in part, that “Every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including, but not limited to decisions on” contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s own pregnancy, miscarriage care, and abortion. [Emphasis added]
All trans activists need to do is cite that all-encompassing “but not limited to” language to demand any and all “treatments” for transgenderism, including mutilation of minors.
Nevertheless, it was good to see Ohio lawmakers standing up to the activists and the governor to say, “No more” to these gruesome gender-denying practices.