Ohio Governor Mike DeWine sent shock waves through the GOP last week when he vetoed a bill that would have protected children from surgeries and other “gender-affirming care” in his state. Heavy criticism from within his own party followed, coming from all across the country. It’s unclear if he caved under that pressure, but last night he signed an “emergency” executive order banning transgender surgeries on minors. But that’s just about the only thing that was banned. The original bill crafted by the Republican majorities in the legislature went much further, so the future of the child trans movement in Ohio remains largely up in the air. (National Review)

Republican Ohio governor Mike DeWine issued an “emergency” executive order Friday banning child gender-transition surgeries after receiving intense backlash last week for vetoing a bill with a broader but similar mandate.

Dubbed the SAFE Act, the original bill that DeWine rejected would have also prohibited physicians from prescribing cross-sex hormones or puberty-blocking medicine to kids. The legislation also banned men in women’s sports, offering a legal recourse to students forced to play against the opposite sex.

The new order would bar physicians from performing gender-transition surgeries, such as mastectomies and hysterectomies, on kids in Ohio’s hospitals and health-care facilities.

This is certainly a curious situation unfolding in the Buckeye State. As regular readers likely know, I’m not generally a fan of executive orders and see them as an occasionally necessary evil at the best of times. It’s always better to build consensus and pass legislation where possible, allowing the people’s directly elected representatives to have a hand in the process. Mike DeWine had just such a piece of legislation sitting on his desk since December 15th. And that bill went much further, stopping the prescription of puberty blockers and wrong-sex hormones to children, as well as keeping men out of women’s sports. But DeWine elected to veto the measure and do this instead.

The real question here is why he finally pulled out the veto pen. DeWine continues to insist that it was the right decision because he believes that “parents, not the government, should be making these crucial decisions for their children.” In general, that’s a fair, small-government conservative position to hold. But a lot of parents are making very bad decisions based on dangerously misguided medical advice. Others are facing interference and subterfuge from their children’s schools. If there was ever a case supporting government intervention, it’s the pediatric trans craze currently sweeping the nation.

So what happens to the rest of the trans-related issues that were left behind in the vetoed bill? If DeWine correctly sees the genital mutilation of otherwise healthy children as an emergency justifying executive action, is he somehow okay with kids receiving destructive, experimental drugs in the name of gender-bending? And what of the issue of boys competing in girls and women’s sports, resulting in the loss of opportunities for girls and sometimes injuries? Are those fine with DeWine or should we be expecting executive orders covering those activities as well?

Some have speculated that the Governor’s veto was simply the result of him getting cold feet. The entire transgender agenda subject is simply too toxic and some politicians just don’t want their names associated with it. Other GOP governors have issued similar vetos, including Asa Hutchinson, Spencer Cox, and Eric Holcomb. But even if you veto such a bill, you don’t walk away with politically clean hands if you turn around and declare the same type of bans via executive orders. In fact, you make yourself even more personally accountable for whatever backlash may come by doing it single-handedly rather than working with a majority in the legislature.

The point may turn out to be moot in the end. The legislature has the ability to override the Governor’s veto and put the law in place anyway, and they appear to have the votes to do so if they wish. At that point, this will all turn into an embarrassing footnote in DeWine’s political history, but at least the main task will have been accomplished.