Breaking Down the "Parental Rights" Argument Against Ohio's Abortion Amendment

Larkin, 17 (pictured here at 13), and his parents have traveled a long, winding journey to the high school junior beginning testosterone treatment. Photo: Andy Overton

“Are you a boy or a girl?”

Larkin Overton was climbing a tree at Hoffner Park in Northside as a young kid when he first heard this question.

He stared back at the curious peer, unsure of what the question even meant. He answered back with the only truth he knew at the time.

“I’m Larkin.”

Larkin, 17, and his parents have traveled a long, winding journey since the world first asked Larkin to define his gender. His dad, Andy Overton, told CityBeat he and his wife never really emphasized gender roles to their kids, but they respected their kid’s wishes to define gender for themselves.

“A kid’s a kid. If it makes them happier, if it makes their life somewhat easier, if it makes them feel better and makes them not want to kill themselves, why would you not do that?” Andy said.

Andy is referring to gender-affirming care, an umbrella of evidence-based mental health and medical services that helps a person transition from their gender assigned at birth to the gender by which they want to be known.

For children and teens, gender-affirming care focuses on mental health therapy and sometimes hormone therapy. This can come in the form of puberty blockers, a medicine that delays the start of puberty, or hormones, which are used to change an individual’s body to be more consistent with their gender identity.

While the practice is generally considered safe and effective for youth, railing against gender-affirming care has become a major talking point for Republicans in Ohio who want to defeat a November ballot question that would amend the Ohio Constitution to protect reproductive rights in the state.

The proposed amendment was crafted to protect the right to abortion care, but opponents say the amendment’s language opens the door for minors to access gender-affirming care and abortions without parental consent.

In fact, Ohio Right to Life, the state’s biggest anti-abortion group, lists the threat of limiting “parental rights” first in their campaign materials railing against the amendment.

“The initiative’s language uses the legal term ‘individual,’ which does not differentiate between adults and minors. An ‘individual’ legally refers to citizens of all ages – nullifying parents’ rights to stop their children from making harmful decisions,” Ohio Right to Life writes.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who holds a seat that is meant to be non-partisan, has been pushing the same view.

The comments from Pro-Choice Ohio's spokeswoman confirm what we've been saying: the goal of the radical anti-parent abortion amendment (Issue 1) is to hand parental rights over to the state as it relates to our children's life changing medical decisions.
— Frank LaRose (@FrankLaRose) August 31, 2023

“The goal of the radical anti-parent abortion amendment (Issue 1) is to hand parental rights over to the state as it relates to our children’s life changing medical decisions,” LaRose said on X (formerly Twitter).

Even the Archbishop for Cincinnati’s Archdiocese, Rev. Dennis Schnurr, has promoted the repeatedly-debunked idea that parents will have limited rights to dictate their child’s healthcare if abortion rights are protected in the state.

“The vague language in the amendment opens the door to anyone under 18 having an abortion, or even beginning cross-sex hormone treatment, without parental consent or notification,” Schnurr said. “Some may insist that the Catholic Church should not be involved in politics. However, the defense of life and care for women compels our participation in this critical moral issue.”

Debunking the same claims over and over

Children below the age of 18 already can’t access abortions without parental consent in the state of Ohio. The only way for a minor to access without parental permission is to be granted a judicial bypass to waive the requirement.

Planned Parenthood of Greater Cincinnati told CityBeat in an emailed statement that Title X allows minors to access confidential reproductive and sexual health care, but abortion services still require parental permission.

Even still, Planned Parenthood does not provide any gender-affirming services to minors.

“For all gender-affirming hormone therapy services, however, we only provide care to adults,” the organization wrote.

The claims that children will be able to immediately begin to access gender-affirming care if the abortion amendment passes have been debunked repeatedly in dozens of media reports and Statehouse hearings.

Physicians have repeatedly asserted that minors don’t even have surgery as an option when discussing gender-affirming care, and that hormone therapy requires parental consent. Speaking to the Associated Press, Tracy Thomas, a University of Akron law professor who directs the school’s Center for Constitutional Law, called the claim a “straw argument.”

“Children do have constitutional rights, but we have lots of examples in the law, both state and federal, where these children’s rights are limited,” Thomas told the AP. “Marriage is a good example.”

Ohio’s existing parental consent law states, according to the Ohio Bar Association, that “people under age 18 (minors) must have the consent of a parent or guardian before receiving medical care.” Exceptions are limited but include emancipated minors and minors who are in need of emergency treatment.

For these laws to be overturned, Ohio’s parental consent law would have to be challenged in court and struck down by the state’s conservative majority Supreme Court.

Andy Overton told CityBeat the argument is rooted in transphobia, which is rooted in a misunderstanding of what the journey to gender-affirming care even looks like, especially for kids.

“I think these people all think your kid is just going to come to you and be like, ‘I’m transgender’ and then you throw them on the bus to the hospital and they go cutting you up,” Andy said. “It’s not like that.”

Gender-affirming care in practice

Larkin’s parents may be the gatekeepers to his gender-affirming care, but they’ve gladly walked hand-in-hand with him throughout his long transition journey.

“When we went in there, my wife and I were very much like, ‘Yeah, our kid’s great and this is his deal,’ and you kind of got the vibe that not every parent’s like that,” Andy said.

“There” for Larkin and his parents was the Transgender Health Clinic at the Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center. Children’s declined to comment on their clinic for this story, but Larkin’s experience paints a picture of the lengthy steps families must take to get to the point where their child is taking hormones.

“It wasn’t an overnight thing,” Andy said.

In order to get a consultation at Children’s Transgender Health Clinic, the child patient needs to have a referral from a therapist who has treated that patient for at least a year. In Larkin’s case, he had been in therapy for more than a year already, and he had begun the process of transitioning socially before that.

“This is not a flip of the switch thing. [Larkin] came to us at 13, said he wanted to go by different pronouns, we said, ‘Great!’ Did that for literally four years before he even got in and started taking T,” Andy said.

“T” refers to testosterone, the hormone Larkin eventually was approved to begin self-administering in order to begin physically transitioning his gender.

“Patients, their families, and the treatment team all need to agree that this is the appropriate next step if the patient is under 18 years old,” Children’s writes on their website.

A family of care

That team-oriented approach to gender-affirming care for youth is intentional, and another layer of parental involvement in making the decision to allow their kid to begin physically transitioning. Larkin’s mom, Elizabeth Overton, said Children’s made it clear support from the family as a whole was needed in order for Larkin to move forward.

“A big part is familial support, so they look at your family as a whole,” Elizabeth said. “They’re wanting to make sure that everyone is taken care of, like do the parents need support in some way? Is there something they can demystify about whatever they’ve learned about transgender care? Things like that.”

The Overton family. Photo: Provided by Andrew Overton

Larkin has been on testosterone for about nine months now. He said the most noticeable differences have been a lower voice and more defined facial features.

“Even the fat in your body starts to rearrange differently,” he said.

Children’s website says the effects of these medications are only “partially reversible,” but that doesn’t scare Larkin.

“I’ve already gone through puberty, I’ve already done something irreversible,” he said. “There’s so much to lose if you don’t, and so much to gain if you do.”

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