'Detransitioner' Chloe Cole appeared Thursday night on Fox News to discuss a new study from the University of Texas that found transgender surgeries are linked to more mental health problems in adults, not fewer.
(LifeSiteNews) — Chloe Cole, a prominent critic of transgender drugs and surgeries for minors, said surgeries are not the answer to the problem of gender dysphoria but a "living hell."
Cole made the comments in reaction to a study that found increased mental health problems after surgery. Despite the finding, the study's authors claimed that this was proof of need for better support post-surgery, not that such surgeries should be prohibited.
Cole is a "detransitioner," which means she previously claimed to be a member of the opposite sex but now recognizes biological reality. When she was 15, Cole had her breasts removed because she believed she was a boy and because medical professionals encouraged her delusion. She now warns others about transgender procedures, regularly testifying and speaking out in public.
Cole appeared on Fox News last night to discuss a new study from the University of Texas that found transgender surgeries are linked to more mental health problems in adults, not fewer. Advocates of removing healthy organs from gender-confused kids often claim the procedures are needed to improve mental health, as host Laura Ingraham highlighted on her show. The researchers published their work in the Oxford Journal of Sexual Medicine.
As LifeSiteNews recently reported about the comprehensive study involving more than 100,000 adults:
Males who underwent transgender surgery had a depression rate of 25.4 percent, compared to 11.5 percent in those who did not have surgery (two years post-op). Likewise, females who underwent surgery had a depression rate of 22.9 percent, compared to 14.6 percent in those who did not.
"This really comes as no surprise. It's not exactly the first study actually that's shown this," Cole told Laura Ingraham.
She said the results are similar to her "own experience" and that of "other detransitioners" she knows.
Cole explained why the surgeries likely contribute to further problems.
"It's a physical treatment for problems that are ultimately psychological in nature," she said.
Cole said the surgeries, and the recovery, are a "living hell."
READ: Trump DOJ erases Biden-era police training that promoted gender ideology
Dr. Eithan Haim, a whistleblower against the drugs and surgeries for minors, concurred with Cole's comments. President Joe Biden's Department of Justice (DOJ) investigated Haim after he blew the whistle on a fellow Texas Children's Hospital doctor who was prescribing transgender drugs and surgeries for minors despite significant underlying mental health conditions. The Trump administration quickly ended the investigation in January.
Dr. Haim noted the "sole reason" for pushing for surgeries was the increased mental health conditions.
"So, with that gone, then they have no reason, no benefit for these interventions," Dr. Haim said.
He criticized the researchers for saying further psychological help is needed instead of warning against the interventions themselves.
The researchers wrote that patients need "gender-sensitive mental health support following gender-affirming surgery to address post-surgical psychological risks.”
Ingraham noted that Dr. Paul McHugh found years ago that most individuals will grow out of their gender-confusion without surgical or chemical intervention. McHugh has also warned that transgender surgeries are linked to more mental health problems.
In fact, credentialed medical experts in both the United States and Europe have for years warned about the harms of transgender drugs and surgeries, which can include both psychological problems as well as physical issues, like cancer, infertility, and heart problems.
For example, Dr. Quentin Van Meter, president of the American College of Pediatricians (not to be confused with the American Academy of Pediatricians), called puberty blockers “child abuse.”
“If you are interrupting (physical maturation) with clearly the intent of never having it go the direction that nature intended, with biological males ending up as adult males and biological females ending up as adult females, if you interrupt that, you are basically setting up a disease state,” Van Meter told LifeSiteNews in 2021. “And then on top of that, the purpose is clearly in the vast majority of kids that get on puberty blockers, they will not be allowed to go through their own natural puberty. They will be held back and then given cross-sex hormones.”
The legality of protecting kids from transgender drugs and surgeries is currently in front of the Supreme Court in a pending case concerning Tennessee and Kentucky prohibitions on the procedures. During the hearing in December, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor claimed the “evidence is very clear” that “some children” need surgical and chemical interventions.
Medical experts, theologians, legal experts, and families harmed by transgender ideology have all asked the Supreme Court through amicus briefs to uphold prohibitions on the procedures.
In addition to sex being immutable, numerous studies and personal testimonies provide evidence of the harms of transgender drugs and surgeries, as extensively documented by LifeSiteNews.
