Kansas lawmakers appear poised to ban gender-affirming care for trans youths despite veto

Gov. Laura Kelly on Friday vetoed a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youths, but Kansas lawmakers appear poised to override her.

"This divisive legislation targets a small group of Kansans by placing government mandates on them and dictating to parents how to best raise and care for their children," Kelly said in her veto message on Senate Bill 233. "I do not believe that is a conservative value, and it's certainly not a Kansas value.

"To be clear, this legislation tramples parental rights. The last place that I would want to be as a politician is between a parent and a child who needed medical care of any kind. And, yet, that is exactly what this legislation does."

Based on past votes, the Republican-led Legislature appears to have the supermajorities needed to override the veto.

"As we watch other states, nations, and other organizations reverse course on these experimental procedures on children, Laura Kelly will most surely find herself on the wrong side of history with her reckless veto of this common-sense protection for Kansas minors," House Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, said in a statement. "House Republicans stand ready to override her veto to protect vulnerable Kansas kids."

While Hawkins said the bill protects vulnerable children, D.C. Hiegert, an LGBTQ+ fellow at the ACLU of Kansas, said it does the opposite.

"We cannot overstate the harm this bill will cause to some of our most vulnerable Kansas children and their families," Hiegert said in a statement. "This bill attacks parents' rights to access life-saving healthcare for their kids and threatens Kansas medical providers.

"And it is written so broadly, it could impact spaces like schools, therapist offices, or state agencies like the Kansas Department of Children and Families — and possibly every person who provides any kind of support or services to children in those places, as well as the youth who need them."

The bill would ban health care professionals from providing gender-affirming care, including surgery and puberty blockers, to children. If they did so anyway, their licenses would be revoked. They could also be sued, and they would be banned from having liability insurance to cover such lawsuits.

There would also be a ban on state money being used for such care, and on state employees promoting gender-affirming care or social transitioning.

Supporters named it the "Forbidding Abusive Child Transitions Act," a bill title that opponents objected to, arguing that gender-affirming care is not child abuse.

Republicans likely have the votes to override veto

The Republican-led Legislature appears to have the necessary votes after several Republican lawmakers flipped their stances from last session, when a similar bill fell short of supermajorities in the House and Senate.

Sen. Brenda Dietrich, R-Topeka, was a pickup after Republican legislators tweaked the bill. It originally required transgender children to quit their medical treatments cold turkey, and the change would allow them to transition off treatment over the rest of the calendar year.

"This is a very hard vote for me," Dietrich said last month, appearing to hold back tears while explaining her vote. "But because they were able to negotiate not stopping that therapy immediately and made some changes to allow for gradual reduction, I vote yes."

More: Kansas GOP OKs ban on gender-affirming care, and Laura Kelly says flippers 'made a mistake'

Dietrich's vote gave Senate Republicans 27 votes, the minimum needed to override a gubernatorial veto. She was the only senator to flip from last session.

House Republicans needed to pick up a dozen votes, and it appears they did. A couple Republicans were absent for the vote, but based on voting history, they have a clear path to the 84 needed for a supermajority.

Physician and House health committee vice chair Rep. John Eplee, R-Atchison, was a key flipper on the House side.

"While I voted against this bill last year — a similar bill — after education and more learning and more knowledge on this, I think it's not unreasonable to do what this bill implies," Eplee told the committee last month, "which is under age 18 to not allow surgery or hormone blockers because of the irreversibility, oftentimes, of those treatments."

Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas lawmakers could override veto of ban on gender-affirming care