HB 68 now sits before DeWine, a Republican elected to a second term in November 2022. The "Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act" is a double whammy against revered far-left policies. It would make it illegal in Ohio for health care professionals to provide gender-manipulation care, either through chemicals or surgery; and it would also prohibit boys from playing on girls' sports teams.
The bill passed in the Ohio Senate last week. DeWine, however, appears in no rush to sign into law this critical legislation. He has to make a decision by next Friday.
"This is a very, very contentious issue. Other states have dealt with this issue as well. My decision will be based on one thing, and that is what I think is in the best interest of the children who would be impacted by this particular law," he told reporters earlier this week.
Cole suspects the governor is getting an earful from the medical community.
"He's probably being told by these doctors and these surgeons who are performing these treatments that it's life-saving care, that it's necessary in order for these children to live, that it's a part of their identity … and that it's life or death for them," she said on Washington Watch Thursday.
That's what Cole's parents heard when she began to regret her decision to live the lifestyle of a young boy – complete with irreversible surgery – and returned to living as a female.
Doctors told Cole's parents "that blood was going to be on their hands, that they were either going to have a dead daughter or a living transgender son," she said in August, "and that they only had those two choices. No other choices were presented to us."
Potential side effects are real
And no possible side effects or other dangers were presented when Cole's parents began discussing a transition with doctors. They weren't told that some surgeries are quite difficult to complete and that sometimes reshaped organs can be quite difficult to maintain. Some procedures can require additional surgery to fix flaws and side effects.
Psychological therapy was not encouraged, and from the medical end it was full steam ahead. Cole, now 19, had both breasts removed three years ago.
"They never told [my parents] about the possibility that I would desist or detransition – or of me regretting these procedures," Cole said. "They said that it was more likely that I would regret going through puberty than I ever would being on these interventions."
Meg Kilgannon, the Family Research Council's senior fellow for education studies, told show host Jody Hice the bill's sports protections could be delaying action from DeWine.
"This is a big bill because it does both the medical procedures and it does the protection of children who are playing sports," she offered. "… But I'm confident that the governor can sign it, and I know that the people of Ohio will be very happy that he does."
Kilgannon pointed out that society protects children from many different acts deemed inappropriate for the young, yet some activists push gender change with passion.
"We protect them from getting a tattoo, we protect them from certain kinds of body piercings, we protect them from smoking, from drinking, we make them sit in car seats, we make them wear bike helmets – the list goes on and on and on of things that we protect children from and prevent them from doing," she listed.
The campaign of misinformation
Kilgannon says the Left is pushing misinformation. "The overly hyperbolic language that the trans activists will use that we're banning 'life-saving procedures,' that's just not true. We are simply age-restricting a procedure that, frankly, I don't think anybody should have, but certainly not children, right?"
She continued: "This is not that hard. I hope that the governor will just start Christmas a little bit early. He could take his take his break right now, sign that bill and let everyone celebrate this wonderful gift to Ohio: the protection of their children," she said.
Cole stated she would like the opportunity to share her story with Gov. DeWine.
"I would tell him about my experience of having been on these treatments, the complications that they have left me with, the fact that it never made me better. It never addressed the issues that I really had – and that without my breasts, I've been left mutilated; and that I could potentially be sterile for life," she said.
