Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoes bill banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors

Ohio's Republican Gov. Mike DeWine announced Friday that he has vetoed a bill that would have banned medical practitioners from providing gender-affirming care for transgender minors, saying he believes gender-affirming care is a decision families should make, not the government. 

The Republican governor said he arrived at his decision to veto House Bill 68, also called the SAFE Act, after listening to physicians and families in a "fact-gathering" mission. The bill passed both chambers of the Ohio Legislature earlier this month, and Friday was the final day DeWine could veto it. The bill also would have blocked transgender student athletes from playing in girls' and women's sports, both in K-12 schools and in colleges and universities. 

"Were I to sign House Bill 68, or were House Bill 68 to become law, Ohio would be saying that the state, that the government, knows better what is best for a child than the two people who know that child the best — the parents," DeWine said during his announcement.