Kansas Gov.
Laura Kelly (D) vetoed a bill that would have banned gender-affirming care for minors in the Sunflower State Friday.
“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 a veto message Friday.
“I do not believe that is a conservative value, and it’s certainly not a Kansas value.” Kelly said that the legislation “tramples parental rights” and that “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,” she continued.
The legislation, Substitute Bill for Senate Bill 233, would have banned gender-affirming care practices like surgery and hormone treatments for those under 18 in Kansas.
Kelly vetoed similar legislation last year, which Republicans weren’t able to override.
Cathryn Oakley, the senior director of legal policy at the LGBTQ rights group Human Rights Campaign, praised Kelly’s veto in a statement in a press release.
“Doctors, patients, and families – not politicians – should be making health care decisions.”
Kansas Governor. A bill that would have prohibited the Sunflower State from providing gender-affirming care to minors was vetoed by Laura Kelly (D) on Friday.
Kelly said in a veto message on Friday that the 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.”. That is not a conservative value, in my opinion, and it is most definitely not a Kansas value. “.
The last place that Kelly would want to be a politician is between a parent and a child who needed medical attention of any kind, she claimed, adding that the legislation “tramples parental rights.”. “.
She went on, “And yet, this legislation does exactly that.”.
For patients under the age of 18, gender-affirming medical procedures like surgery and hormone treatments would have been prohibited in Kansas under the legislation known as Substitute Bill for Senate Bill 233. Republicans were unsuccessful in overriding Kelly’s veto of a bill of similar nature last year.
Human Rights Campaign’s senior director of legal policy, Cathryn Oakley, commended Kelly’s veto in a press release. The group, according to her, is still “appreciative of Governor Kelly for seeing bills like SB 233 for what they really are: attempts to incite anti-LGBTQ+ extremists with dangerous misinformation and targeting of vulnerable youth.”. “.
“Pure and simple, discrimination is being committed if any law aims to outlaw medically necessary care that is based on best practices because the patient receiving it identifies as transgender,” stated Oakley. Making decisions about health care should involve doctors, patients, and families, not politicians. “.
