Kansas Ban on Child Trans Procedures Hits the Veto Wall

After a series of fits and starts, the Kansas legislature passed legislation that would ban genital mutilation surgery on minors along with other supposed “transgender care” procedures. The proposed law would not impact adults. This led to Democratic Governor Laura Kelly breaking out her executive pen yesterday and vetoing the legislation. She vetoed a couple of other bills that had been sent to her for good measure. Republicans in the legislature appear to have enough votes to override the vetoes, but their margin for error is thin, particularly in the House. Assuming they can force the law through, Kansas will bring us to the point where the nation is almost evenly divided between states that ban or limit transgender medical procedures, particularly for children and those that allow the practice to flourish. (CBS News)

Kansas’ governor on Friday vetoed a proposed ban on gender-affirming care for minors, a measure to require more reporting from abortion providers and what she called a “vague” bill making it a crime to coerce someone into having an abortion.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s actions set up a series of confrontations with the Republican-supermajority Legislature over those issues. The measures appeared to have the two-thirds majorities needed in both chambers to override vetoes, but GOP leaders’ success depends on how many lawmakers are absent on a given day, especially in the House.

The pediatric trans protection legislation looks fairly solid and it was modeled on similar legislation that has been passed in other states. If the Republicans can keep their ducks in a row and ensure that enough members will be present, they should be able to drive this over the finish line, though it’s not a sure thing yet. The Governor’s other two vetoes involved abortion issues. One would require more extensive reporting from abortion providers to state health officials, which seems simple enough. The other would criminalize the act of “coercing” someone into having an abortion. I’ll confess that I haven’t invested the time to go into all the details of that one, but I will go so far as to agree with the Governor that it appears to be a bit vague, at least at first glance.

All of this legislative and executive action is what currently passes for normal in Kansas. In 2018, Kelly narrowly won her position as governor with a plurality of the vote after receiving many endorsements from senior Kansas Republicans. She was sold as a “sensible moderate” Democrat but immediately dove far to the left, particularly on social issues. In 2022, she narrowly eeked out another plurality victory by less than two points. She is now term-limited, so next year will be the end of her run.

Meanwhile, the voters of Kansas have given the GOP supermajorities in both chambers of the legislature. This has turned the political landscape of Kansas into something of a circus. Laura Kelly set a record last year for issuing the most vetos seen in the state in three decades. She is also blazing a trail toward having the most vetoes overridden in the recent history of Kansas. 

As far as the transgender debate goes, Kansas is only the latest chapter in what is shaping up to be a new “civil war” in the United States. There has been a growing wave of people coming to understand that these experimental medical procedures frequently turn out to be a horror show, particularly when they are inflicted on confused children. Plenty of legislation has been passed to prevent or at least limit these practices. Unfortunately, this has fully evolved into a fight between red states and blue states, with the latter fighting back against any such protections for minors. Significant parts of Europe are leaving us behind in barring these procedures, as hard as that is to believe. Sadly, this is the mad, mad world we have inherited in the 21st century. We shouldn’t allow it to become the new normal, though.