Ohio Governor Who Vetoed Bill Blocking Protecting Minors and Girl’s Sports Took $40K From Pro-Trans Hospitals

The Gateway Pundit reported that on Friday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine vetoed House Bill 68, which sought to prohibit gender-affirming care for minors and to restrict transgender athletes’ participation in girls’ and women’s sports.

House Bill 68 proposed to ban physicians from providing gender-affirming care, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy, to trans youth and would prohibit gender reassignment surgeries for minors. It also sought to bar transgender girls from competing in female sports categories.

DeWine told reporters that the ban would do “more harm than good.”

“These are truly complex issues, and reasonable people draw vastly different conclusions,” DeWine said during a press conference on Friday. “This bill would impact a very small number of Ohio’s children, but for those children who face gender dysphoria, and for their families, the consequences of this could not be more profound.”

DeWine claimed that parents of “transgender” children told him that their kids would have committed suicide without sex change procedures.

“Ultimately, I believe this is about protecting human life,” DeWine said. “Many parents have told me that their child would not have survived — would be dead today — if they had not received the treatment they received from one of Ohio’s children’s hospitals.”

“I’ve also been told by those who are now grown adults that, but for this care, they would have taken their lives when they were teenagers,” DeWine continued.

The Federalist Papers now reports that it appears DeWine took more than $40,000 from pro-trans hospitals.

The Federalist Papers report:

A review of donations from 2018 to 2023 reveals that the governor received a total of $40,300 from the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association (OCHA), Cincinnati Children’s, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and ProMedica Children’s Hospital.

The OCHA donated $10,000 to the Mike DeWine and Jon Husted Transition Fund on Dec. 28, 2018, and another $10,000 on Dec. 7, 2022, according to the report. This transition fund allows candidates to spend donations for “transition activities and inaugural celebrations,” as outlined in Ohio’s campaign finance handbook.

Affiliates of OCHA, such as Cincinnati Children’s and ProMedica, also made significant contributions. Cincinnati Children’s donated $300 on Dec. 15, 2022, and ProMedica, another affiliate of OCHA, donated $10,000 in December 2018. Nationwide Children’s, a third affiliate with OCHA, donated $5,000 in December 2018 and another $5,000 in January 2023 to the transition fund.

The Cincinnati Children’s and Nationwide Children’s hospitals offer gender-affirming care, including puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, with no stated age limits for patients.

Oh, and would you look at that! The Ohio Children’s Hospital Association has given DeWine $20,000.

How nice of him to veto the bill that would have cost “gender affirming” children’s hospitals millions of dollars. pic.twitter.com/SDbBl2bxHe

— Parker Thayer (@ParkerThayer) December 29, 2023

Oh, and then there’s “Friends of Ohio Hospitals” which has sent DeWine over $40,000.

Friends of Ohio Hospitals is funded by the senior employees, lobbyists, and Super PACs of many major hospitals in Ohio and around the nation.

Perhaps they might have some financial interest? pic.twitter.com/d3fbG9kk8s

— Parker Thayer (@ParkerThayer) December 29, 2023

President Trump blasted DeWine’s decision on Truth Social.

“DeWine has fallen to the Radical Left. No wonder he gets loudly booed in Ohio every time I introduce him at Rallies, but I won’t be introducing him any more. I’m finished with this “stiff.” What was he thinking. The bill would have stopped child mutilation, and prevented men from playing in women’s sports. Legislature will hopefully overturn. Do it FAST!!!”