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Bill That Would Affect Transgender Children Sparks Debate at Ohio Statehouse

A new bill at the Ohio Statehouse would prevent doctors from prescribing drugs to delay puberty or perform surgery to change a child’s gender. Statehouse correspondent Jo Ingles reports on parental support of the bill.

 

Maria says doctors told her that her child was transgender. Maria doesn’t want to use her full name, but she says she believes medical professionals are experimenting with drugs and surgery on children like hers and forcing their parents into silence.

“They are afraid they will lose their jobs. They are afraid of trans activists that will find them and threaten them into silence. And we are afraid for our lives," Maria said. "But we are terrified that if this treatment continues as it is, we will be part of a medical catastrophe that this world has never seen."

The conservative group Citizens for Community Values supports the bill, which is still being drafted. 

But Dr. Scott Leibowitz with Nationwide Children’s Hospital says in a written statement that evidence published by mainstream medical associations shows kids are receiving care that promotes healthy outcomes. Equality Ohio and TransOhio also oppose the bill.

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment. Jo started her career in Louisville, Kentucky in the mid 80’s when she helped produce a televised presidential debate for ABC News, worked for a creative services company and served as a general assignment report for a commercial radio station. In 1989, she returned back to her native Ohio to work at the WOSU Stations in Columbus where she began a long resume in public radio.