House Bill 68 represented a significant effort on the part of Republican lawmakers in Ohio to restrict the availability of puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and surgical procedures ostensibly intended to help children “transition” to the opposite gender.

Nevertheless, DeWine broke ranks with his party, citing concerns over the need for parental and medical discretion with these matters.

Back in June 2021, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, explained why he opposed any and all efforts by the Republican-controlled General Assembly to pass bills that protected women's sports by preventing transgender "women" from competing in them.

“This issue is best addressed outside of government, through individual sports leagues and athletic associations, including the Ohio High School Athletic Association, who can tailor policies to meet the needs of their member athletes and member institutions,” DeWine declared at the time.

Here we are some two and a half years later, and DeWine clearly hasn't changed his mind on the issue, vetoing a bill (HB 68) that was designed not just to protect women's sports but also to prevent children from having so-called "gender-affirming care" like life-altering gender transition surgery, which mutilates their bodies.

From the PDF document:

To enact sections 3109.054, 3129.01, 3129.02, 3129.03, 3129.04, 3129.05, 3129.06, 3313.5319, and 3345.562 of the Revised Code to enact the Saving Ohio Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act regarding gender transition services for minors, and to enact the Save Women's Sports Act to require schools, state institutions of higher education, and private colleges to designate separate single-sex teams and sports for each sex.

In a press conference, DeWine explained his veto by pointing to how these are "gutwrenching decisions" parents are making on behalf of their children regarding transition surgery, decisions he says should be left up to parents and medical professionals.

It appears that DeWine did not fully do his research before vetoing this bill. The fact that he repeated a lie often told by progressives claiming that “gender-affirming care” prevents children suffering from gender dysphoria from taking their own lives shows that he has bought into a narrative without looking into it.

The fact of the matter is that it has not yet been clearly established that puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and surgery provide any benefit at all to the majority of children to whom they are applied.

Medical professionals have questioned these supposed studies, arguing that they do not offer definitive proof that “gender-affirming care” is the remedy that proponents say it is. A new study shows that these professionals are right.

The United Kingdom’s National Health Service published the findings of a study showing that “gender-affirming care” either has deleterious effects on children’s mental health or no effect whatsoever.

A third of trans children treated with puberty blockers had their mental health deteriorate while on the medication, a new analysis of a landmark study reveals.  

The original study found that 44 children, aged 12 to 15, who took the controversial drugs experienced no change — good or bad — to their mental health.

This report, produced by experts from the NHS's Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at Tavistock and University College London Hospitals (UCLH) in 2021 eventually led to a lowering of the age children could access puberty blockers.

But a fresh analysis of the data used in the report found 34 per cent of the gender-questioning youth saw their mental health deteriorate while using the drugs.

This compared to 29 per cent who had their mental health improve and 37 per cent who experienced no change.

Other studies have shown that there are serious risks and ethical concerns with using “gender-affirming care” on children. It is one of the reasons why so many European nations are moving away from this approach.

Additionally, the increasing prevalence of detransitioners, those who went through “gender-affirming care” as children and then later regretted it, has also shone a light on the dangers of the practice. Many of these individuals have filed lawsuits against medical facilities that pushed these treatments on them when they were too young to make this type of decision.

Unfortunately, DeWine does not appear to be considering the long-term effects of “gender-affirming care” on children after they become adults. In the end, it means more Ohio children will likely be damaged by these treatments.