Kansas gender-affirming care ban dies in Senate
TOPEKA (KSNT) - The Kansas Senate has failed to revive a bill that prevents minors from receiving gender reassignment services.
The Senate voted 26-14 in favor of the bill, failing to reach the constitutional majority needed to override the Governor’s veto of the bill Wednesday.
Republicans and Democrats clashed over the bill during debates.
The bill initially passed the Senate earlier this month, just shy of the three votes needed for a veto-proof majority.
“It gives that opportunity for someone who had that treatment and really didn’t feel like they were given accurate information about what to expect… what to anticipate… it does allow for that legal recourse,” Sen. Molly Baumgardner, a Republican from Louisburg, told Kansas Capitol Bureau in an interview in March.
The bill would have prohibited physicians from providing gender reassignment services to minors. Baumgardner said this would also include pharmaceutical treatment for gender change.
The Governor eventually vetoed the bill last week, releasing the following message:
“Companies have made it clear that they are not interested in doing business with states that discriminate against workers and their families. By stripping away rights from Kansans and opening the state up to expensive and unnecessary lawsuits, these bills would hurt our ability to continue breaking economic records and landing new business deals. I’m focused on the economy. Anyone care to join me?”
Gov. Laura Kelly, D-Kansas