TOPEKA, Kansas (LifeSiteNews) — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a bill that would have banned gender mutilating medical treatments and surgeries.
The Democrat governor refused to sign SB 63, which protects children from the administration of life-altering sex-related surgeries, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones and affirms the biological reality of sex as male and female.
Known as the “Help Not Harm Act,” the measure would defund so-called “gender-affirming care” and put doctors who continue providing it at risk of losing their medical licenses.
The bill would allow civil lawsuits against medical professionals who commit the procedures. These surgeries could include cutting off healthy breasts or removing reproductive organs, causing lifelong problems with fertility, and creating damaging emotional issues.
SB 63 would also require professional discipline against any healthcare provider who performs such treatments and would prohibit professional liability insurance from covering damages for healthcare providers that offer gender transition treatment to children.
“It is disappointing that the legislature continues to push for government interference in Kansans’ private medical decisions instead of focusing on issues that improve all Kansans’ lives,” Kelly said in a statement.
“Infringing on parental rights is not appropriate, nor is it a Kansas value. As I’ve said before, it is not the job of politicians to stand between a parent and a child who needs medical care of any kind,” she said. “This legislation will also drive families, businesses, and health care workers out of our state, stifling our economy and exacerbating our workforce shortage issue.”
“Right now, the Legislature should be focused on ways to help Kansans cope with rising prices,” Kelly said. “That is the most important issue for Kansans. That is where my focus is.”
The bill had sailed through the Kansas Senate and House, approved 32-8 and 85-35, respectively.
“The governor’s devotion to extreme left-wing ideology knows no bounds, vetoing a bipartisan bill that prevents the mutilation of minors,” state Senator Ty Masterson said in a statement released online.
“The Senate stands firmly on the side of protecting Kansas children and will swiftly override her veto before the ink from her pen is dry,” he predicted.
“Disgraceful veto, Laura Kelly,” wrote Dr. Roger Marshall, a U.S. senator representing Kansas and an obstetrician. “Yet again, putting her radical liberal ideology above the safety of Kansas kids.”
“Child mutilation is not a parental right and on the contrary, should be criminal,” said Marshall, adding, “I look forward to the legislature overriding this insane veto.”
Disgraceful veto, Laura Kelly.
Yet again, putting her radical liberal ideology above the safety of Kansas kids. Child mutilation is not a parental right and on the contrary, should be criminal.
I look forward to the legislature overriding this insane veto. https://t.co/TqeDgk2lpc
— Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) February 11, 2025
“We are disappointed by Gov. Kelly’s veto of SB 63, a law that protects vulnerable kids from radical gender ideology. By vetoing this critical legislation, Gov. Kelly ignored biological reality and the growing body of evidence about the damage that these drugs and surgeries inflict on children’s minds and bodies,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Matt Sharp, director of the ADF Center for Public Policy.
“Now and always, children who experience discomfort with their sex need the loving embrace of family, not risky drugs and life-altering procedures that send them down a one-way path of lifetime medicalization,” Sharp said in a statement. “We hope the Kansas Legislature will put the state’s children first and promptly override this veto.”
Kelly joins current and former governors in Ohio and Arkansas in vetoing bills that targeted gender-mutilating care for minors. However, in both instances, those vetoes were overridden.