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“The hardest part was being sold something that I believed was going to help me and make me feel better, only to do all of it and come out on the other side not feeling any better. I can’t ever undo it.”
–KAYLA LOVDAHL
A woman who detransitioned after being given cross-sex hormones and having a double mastectomy at the age of 13 has filed suit against doctors at Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, alleging that they rushed her into transition without providing informed consent on the potential dangers of the treatments while also failing to consider or treat her pre-existing mental health issues.
As an adolescent Kayla Lovdahl (who also goes by the name Layla Jane) experienced numerous mental health issues, leading to problems at school and with her peers. When she was 11 years old, she was exposed to transgender influencers online after which she began to believe she was transgender. She informed her parents she was a boy and they sought help from Permanente Medical Group and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals.
The suit, filed by the Center for American Liberty, Dhillon Law Group, LiMandri & Jonna LLP on Lovdahl’s behalf, claims that several doctors “immediately, and negligently, affirmed Kayla’ self-diagnosed transgenderism without adequate psychological evaluation,” placing her on puberty blockers and testosterone at age 12, and performed a double mastectomy six months later when she was 13. This all occurred, the attorneys wrote, after a doctor “determined in a single 75-minute transition evaluation that Kayla was transgender.”
The suit claims that there were three critical factors that prove the doctors committed malpractice in recommending the sex change experiment on a child.
For starters, 80 to 90 percent of gender dysphoria cases in children resolve by adulthood. Multiple studies confirm this. A study from 2013 showed that 84.2 percent of children examined had their concerns desist in adulthood. A 2008 study found that 88 percent of adolescent girls who had feelings of gender dysphoria had those feelings desist in adulthood. A 2021 study found that 87.8 percent of boys examined eventually became comfortable with their biological sex.
The next factor was Kayla’s mental health problems. The suit says,
“Minors with co-morbid health symptoms, such as Kayla, are at a particularly high risk for dissatisfaction and complications. They should be treated with regular psychological and/or psychiatric treatment at least until the individual reaches a far greater level of cognitive maturational capacity and has acquired a mental state that will allow them to appreciate the significance of the decision they are making. Even in adulthood, co-morbid mental health symptoms are a serious contra-indication of any chemical/surgical transition treatment. Kayla’s providers entirely failed to evaluate, appreciate, treat and consider her serious co-morbid mental health symptoms.”
Third, the suit cites studies showing that minors, particularly girls, who receive cross-sex hormones and surgeries often have poor mental health outcomes, including suicidal ideation. One study, conducted over 30 years, found a 19-fold increase in the rate of suicide compared to the general population. Another study found a 49-fold increased rate of suicide.
The suit claims that not only did the doctors not provide proper informed consent but “falsely and authoritatively represented opposite facts, including that Kayla’s dysphoria would never resolve unless she chemically/surgically transitioned, and that she represented a high-risk of suicide unless she transitioned.”
In February, another young woman, Chloe Cole, also filed suit against Permanente Medical Group, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan & Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, alleging that the hospital never questioned her self-diagnosis, examined her other mental health issues, or informed her and her family of the possible problems. Cole was started on puberty blockers and had a double mastectomy at age 15.
Chloe and Kayla have since become friends and are working together to warn others about the dangers of minor sex-change procedures.
When will enough be enough? How many stories of young girls and boys who had trauma or mental health problems and were taken to doctors for help only to end up being permanently damaged does America have to hear before these procedures are banned?
There are numerous studies that show the harmful effects of puberty blockers, hormones, and sex change surgeries. The U.K., following the lead of other European countries, recently banned the use of puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria in minors. There are a growing number of detransitioners who have bravely stood up and told their stories of pain, medical problems, and their desire to stop this from happening to anyone else. Even former employees of medical clinics have testified to the negligence of the clinics who administer these drugs or perform the surgeries.
And yet most major U.S. medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, continue to call these harmful treatments “lifesaving,” while federal judges are blocking state laws banning their use in minors.
The lesson in the stories of Layla Lovdahl and Chloe Cole is that parents must be proactive. You are in a spiritual battle for the souls and physical well-being of your children, and the harsh reality that must be accepted is that many doctors and psychologists no longer practice medicine based in fact or sound biology.
As such, you must arm yourself with God’s Word and an understanding of the goals and tactics of the radical LGBTQ movement and take steps to shield your child from those who would manipulate or permanently harm him or her. That means getting your child off of social media; if possible, taking them out of schools that cultishly push the LGBTQ ideology; and get away from any doctor, psychologist, or school counselor that uses emotional manipulation to try to convince your child that gender transition is somehow healthy or life-saving.
Common sense is on your side, much of the global medical community is on your side, science is on your side, and most importantly, God’s Word is on your side. God creates people as male or female, and we cannot change our sex because of feelings. Colossians 2:8 states,
“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”
Believe God’s Word and do whatever is necessary to protect your child. One day, your child might thank you for it.
Ready to dive deeper into the intersection of faith and policy? Head over to our Theology of Politics series page where we’ve published several long-form pieces that will help Christians navigate where their faith should direct them on political issues.
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