In the 2024 legislative session, SB 233, an extreme bill restricting medical freedom and targeting trans youth, passed both Kansas legislative chambers. Governor Kelly vetoed the bill, and the legislature attempted to override the veto late in the session.
A huge coalition of Kansas families, advocates, medical providers, and educators came together to vehemently oppose the extreme bill. Ultimately, the veto override attempt failed, and the bill did not come law. It was a huge testament to the power of community and the importance of participating in the democratic process of communicating with and ensuring we hold our elected officials accountabe.
If Gov. Kelly’s veto had been overridden by the legislature in the veto session and SB 233 had become law, Kansas would have passed have one of, if not the most, extreme and overreaching pieces of anti-trans legislation in the country.
On the medical side, this bill would have effectively banned:
—access to all medically necessary healthcare (puberty blockers, HRT, etc.) for trans Kansans under 18 years old.
—state funds, including Medicaid, from being used to cover medically necessary healthcare and prescriptions for trans Kansans under 18.
—state facilities or individuals/entities receiving state funds from “promot[ing] or advocat[ing]” social transition or medically necessary health care to trans Kansans under 18.
Importantly, these exact same treatments are still available for use to youth who are not transgender—meaning this bill unfairly singled out trans youth.
This bill also had chilling free speech implications because it broadly prohibited state employees from “promot[ing]” social transitioning. This could encompass social workers, teachers, school guidance counselors, and more. This bill did not define what “promot[ing]” or “advocat[ing]” means. Simply allowing youth to dress as they wish or use preferred pronouns could be perceived to violate this restrictive law. Because this bill was written so broadly and vaguely, it could have been weaponized against any number of people for any number of innocent actions—or perceived actions—to leverage punishment or retaliation.
In short—this bill would have banned access to the best-practice, nationally recommended healthcare for one of the most vulnerable populations of Kansas youth, attack parent’s rights to control their child’s medical care, threatened Kansas medical providers and state employees who care for children, and made it harder for trans youth and their families to live and thrive in our state.
We have stopped similarly harmful bills before, and we know that SB 233 could not have happened without so many Kansans making our voices heard.
Senate Bill 233 bans health care professionals from using surgery or puberty blockers to treat transgender children. Despite Republican lawmakers’ claims that puberty blockers and hormone therapy are unsafe, the same therapy will be allowed for cisgender children.
HB 2791 essentially bans all gender-affirming healthcare for Kansans under 18 years old by threatening providers with strict liability lawsuits and licensure implications—far exceeding the appropriate government regulation of medicine.
On March 28, 2024, the ACLU of Kansas sent a letter to Governor Laura Kelly urging a veto on SB 233, which is even more extreme and misinformed than similar bills in other parts of the country.