On Friday Governor Dewine vetoed HB 68, a bill that would have barred medical practitioners from dealing hormone altering drugs or performing irreversible surgeries to minors in Ohio. According to the Governor, his decision followed extensive meetings with advocates who transitioned and claimed they would not be alive were it not for transition surgeries.

According to current data, the attempted suicide rate among those suffering from gender dysphoria hovers around 50%. While individuals suffering from this ailment often self-report the biggest contributor to their ideations being microaggressions, or being misgendered, according to current metrics the rate is not significantly impacted by transition surgeries. According to a recent meta review, while some studies attempt to argue suicidal ideations decreased after surgeries or hormone drugs, most suffered from “type 1 error”, meaning that the level of significance is often miscalculated leading to studies showing something as more significant or positive than it actually is. Some fields call this practice “P Hacking” in which the end goal of a study is altered to support the hypothesis.

The governor stated his decision to veto the bill was based on “protecting life.”

“The consequences of this bill could not be more profound,” DeWine said. “These are gut-wrenching decisions that should be made by parents and should be informed by teams of doctors who are advising them.”

The transition industry has been a financial smorgasbord for pharmaceutical companies, specifically ones like Teva Pharmaceuticals, who is the nation’s leading supplier of transition hormone therapies. Other major players include Novartis AG, Bayer AG, Pfizer Inc. , Novo Nordisk A/S, Eli Lilly and Company, Abbott, Mylan Laboratories, Merck & Co, Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Co Inc. All of which have donated considerable amounts individually to Ohio political candidates.

Hospitals and medical practitioners have also seen massive financial boons thanks to gender reassignment surgeries. These demographics represent large swaths of Governor DeWine’s political donations. Global markets estimate growth potential in the field of gender reassignment surgery to go from a $623 Million dollar market to somewhere in the $1.3 Billion Dollar range over the next ten years. 

The Governor reported he did not even address the other half of HB 68, which would have also helped protect women’s sports across the state, because the medical care side of the bill was far too important.