Following recent backlash against GOP figures who suggest that bans on transgender medical care constitute government overreach, right-wing media have now turned against Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, accusing him of caving to hospital lobbyists by vetoing similar legislation in his state. 

Media Matters reviewed the contributions from one of the hospital lobbyist political action committees cited by conservative media and found that it made donations to both parties but overwhelmingly favored Republicans — making up nearly 90% of its political contributions — including more than 120 of the GOP state legislators who voted for the ban. 

In early 2023, Ohio was one of many states to introduce legislation that would heavily restrict or ban gender-affirming care for trans youth. A combined ban on youth gender-affirming care and trans inclusion in sports progressed through the majority Republican chambers but faltered at the desk of DeWine, who vetoed H.B. 68 in late December on the grounds that the mental health consequences for trans youth would be dire. 

Following DeWine's initial veto on December 29, the next day’s edition of Fox & Friends Weekend featured three consecutive hours in which segment content suggested that the governor had blocked H.B. 68 to cater to the hospital lobby in his state. 

“This is a very profitable business,” claimed co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy, saying that trans youth go on to “become lifelong customers” for gender-affirming care. “Shame on Gov. Mike DeWine,” she added.

Other right-wing outlets including The Daily Caller, The Daily Wire, and The Epoch Times made similar claims, citing Ohio campaign finance reports to imply that DeWine’s veto had been influenced by support from hospital PACs. 

In one such accusation quoted by The Epoch Times, Capital Research Center investigative researcher Parker Thayer suggested that Friends of Ohio Hospitals had “some financial interest” in the veto, noting that the PAC had given DeWine $40,000 since 2018.  

According to the most recently available Ohio campaign finance disclosures, the Friends of Ohio Hospitals PAC has donated to members of both parties, though the organization has given far more to Republicans than to Democrats. Excluding contributions made to DeWine, over 89% of these contributions were made to members of the Republican Party — approximately $390,000 out of over $409,000 in total political contributions — and more than $190,000 of those funds have gone directly to the Republican legislators who voted to move the gender-affirming care ban through the chambers, including several co-sponsors of H.B. 68.

The Daily Caller also cited Thayer’s thread on X (formerly Twitter) and reported that DeWine had received contributions from the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association and other organizations. To further suggest that these groups had influenced the governor’s veto, the article noted that OHCA’s president “testified against House Bill 68, arguing that the bill ‘strips away’ the rights of parents and their transgender children,” and explained that the chief of staff at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital “also testified against House Bill 68, claiming that the impact of the bill would be ‘felt deeply and dangerously.’”

While the article implied that the groups’ donations and advocacy revealed the nefarious agenda of hospital lobbyists in opposing the ban, the multiple medical experts who spoke out against the Ohio bill reflect the medical consensus on youth gender-affirming care. In reality, every major medical association in the country considers gender-affirming care to be best-practice medicine for youth experiencing gender dysphoria. 

One week after vetoing H.B. 68 and suffering the resultant backlash from right-wing media, DeWine returned to the issue, signing an executive order that would ban gender-affirming surgeries, specifically, for youth in his state and introducing a series of rules that would severely limit health care for trans people of all ages. 

Independent journalist Erin Reed noted that the Ohio order will “essentially end most adult trans care in the state, instituting a defacto ban for many trans patients.” Reed cited Florida, where similar measures saw trans adults “‘blindsided’ with the loss of care.” Reporting on the 2023 legislative session found that restrictions on youth gender-affirming care could be a stepping stone to more comprehensive bans, a trend that threatens to continue into the 2024 session. 

Despite the severity of the governor’s reaction, some of the same right-wing media outlets — Fox News and The Daily Caller, for example — have continued to repeat the claims that DeWine had been influenced by the medical lobby in his state, insisting that the emergency order is insufficient.

The state’s Republican-controlled legislature reportedly plans to return to session early and hold a January 10 vote to override DeWine’s veto. If the vote passes, Ohio will expand the ban on youth gender-affirming care to include hormone therapy, and become the 24th state to ban trans people from competing in athletic teams that align with their lived gender.