On the heels of a failed override of Laura Kelly’s veto last month of a bIll that would have outlawed sex change surgeries on gender dysphoric children in Kansas, a study just published in April by the National Library of Medicine shows people who’ve undergone such surgeries are some 1200 percent more likely to attempt suicide.
But the newly released data doesn’t seem to have had any impact on two key Republican Representatives who scuttled the override attempt in the House and did not respond to the Informer’s request for comment.
The new data emerges in stark contrast to LGBTQ proponents who claim irreversible body-altering surgeries and chemical procedures that stop puberty or try to replace natural hormones serve to help gender dysphoric people with their prevailing mental health issues. Writing on the new data for The Daily Wire, reporter Zach Jewell recounted the methodology of the extensive study, which utilized patient data from 56 healthcare organizations in the U.S. and over 90 million patients.
“Four different groups of patients were looked at in the study,” Jewell’s story reads, “including 1,501 people age 18 – 60 who had “gender affirming surgery” and an emergency room visit (cohort A), and 15,608,363 adults who visited the emergency room but had no “gender affirming surgery” (cohort B). The third group (cohort C) included 142,093 “adults with emergency visits, tubal ligation or vasectomy, but no gender-affirming surgery,” while a fourth group of patients with pharyngitis (cohort D) was studieds “to validate the results from cohort C.”
“Data from February 4, 2003, to February 4, 2023, were analyzed to examine suicide attempts, death, self-harm, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) within five years of the index event,” the study said, adding that its results found that “Individuals who underwent gender-affirming surgery had a 12.12-fold higher suicide attempt risk than those who did not.” The study concluded, “Gender-affirming surgery is significantly associated with elevated suicide attempt risks, underlining the necessity for comprehensive post-procedure psychiatric support.”
The study contradicts testimony given by LGBTQ advocates during the legislature’s hearing process, as well as the Biden Administration’s position that “gender affirming” care prevents suicide attempts among those with gender dysphoria.
Republicans in the Kansas House of Representatives fell two votes short of the ⅔ majority needed to override Kelly’s veto of Senate Bill 233, 82-43, in the recent legislative session. Representative Susan Concannon of Beloit voted for the measure initially but changed her vote to side with Kelly in the override attempt. Jesse Borjon of Topeka also voted against the override in the House. House Speaker Dan Hawkins said the data reinforced the need for a halt to the procedures and a focus on mental health for the patients.
“The new data in this study further reinforces the need for legislation that protects Kansas kids from harmful and often irreversible medicalized gender reassignment experiments,” Hawkins said. “It also reflects why a litany of mental health services were preserved in the bill for vulnerable minors suffering from gender dysphoria so that treating underlying mental health conditions takes top priority.” Hawkins said mis-direted special interests had succeeded in influencing proponents and legislators.
“It’s really disheartening that those institutions that profit greatly from these controversial interventions were able to mislead some of our folks into turning their back on Kansas kids,” Hawkins said.
Neither Concannon nor Borjon answered emails from the Informer for this article regarding the newly released study data in time for this story’s post.
The Kansas Senate passed the override 27-13.
Great Britain’s National Health Service on April 1 of this year ceased sex change procedures for gender dysphoric teens under 16, saying its research showed no evidence of those procedures’ viability.
Dane Hicks is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the United States Marine Corps Officer Candidate School at Quantico, VA. He is the author of novels "The Skinning Tree" and "A Whisper For Help." As publisher of the Anderson County Review in Garnett, KS., he is a recipient of the Kansas Press Association's Boyd Community Service Award as well as more than 60 awards for excellence in news, editorial and photography.
