Click Introduces 'Save Adolescents from Experimentation' Act

COLUMBUS – State Representative Gary Click (R-Vickery) addressed members of the media at a press conference for the Ohio Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act Wednesday. 

Flanked by supporters of the legislation, Click was joined by Ronli Brown, a supportive mother of a transgender-identifying child and trans man Scott Newgent, both of whom spoke in support of the bill. Following the press conference, Click, Brown and Newgent delivered the bill to the House Clerk’s Office where they officially introduced it for consideration in the Ohio legislature.

The bill, if passed, would protect children experiencing gender identity disorder from premature medicalization by preventing harmful surgeries and prescriptions of puberty blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones to patients under the age of 18. 

“The SAFE Act is common sense legislation designed to ensure that children and adolescents receive only the best and safest healthcare and guarantees that their rights to choose are preserved for adulthood when they are able to provide informed consent,” Click said. “Save the adulting for adults and let kids be kids.”

Among other things, the bill would additionally ensure that before diagnosing or treating a patient under the age of 18 with a gender-related condition, a physician shall obtain parental consent and screen the patient for abuse and co-morbidities like trauma, depression, ADHD, anxiety, autism spectrum disorder and other mental health conditions.

The legislation currently awaits the designation of a bill number and committee assignment.