California teenager who previously identified as transgender backs Florida rule blocking Medicaid funds from paying for medical interventions for gender dysphoria – emotionally tells hearing she ‘didn’t understand’ the ramifications and may now be exposed to increased risk of certain cancers.
Chloe Cole, who decided she was transgender at age 12 and underwent a double mastectomy three years later, spoke at a public hearing Friday in favor of Rule 59G-1.050, which would limit Medicaid funding for transgender drugs and procedures .
“I really didn’t understand all the implications of the medical decisions I was making,” Cole, now 17, said at the hearing, according to Fox News.
“I was unknowingly physically cutting my true self from my body, irreversibly and painfully.”
Cole also laid out the impact of her decision, made as a minor, in a separate meeting with Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who posted a video on her compelling Twitter account.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to carry a child to full term, and I may be at increased risk for certain types of cancer, mainly cervical cancer,” Cole said. “And since I don’t have breasts – I don’t have breasts anymore – I can’t breastfeed any future children I have.”
Chloe Cole, who decided she was transgender at age 12 and underwent a double mastectomy three years later, spoke at a public hearing Friday in favor of Rule 59G-1.050. courtesy of Chloe Cole
Cole then took a long pause, the footage shows.
“That realization was actually one of the biggest things that made me realize that this wasn’t the path I was supposed to take,” Cole said, adding that no child should have to go through what she went through.
“Don’t transfer your kids,” Cole told Fox News when asked what she would say to the public after her experience.
“If you are considering transitioning, please wait until you are a fully grown adult. Transitioning can wreak havoc on your body and mind in ways we may not fully understand.”
Ladapo tweeted Sunday that Florida does not support medicalizing minors with gender dysphoria because “the benefits are unproven.” He thanked Cole for being “brave enough” to share her account.
“The medicalization of minors with gender dysphoria may promote the political views of the doctors who care for them, but the data showing any benefits for actual children is extremely scarce,” Ladapo told Fox News. “The endorsement model carries an unacceptably high risk of harm.”
Cole said he supports Rule 59G-1.050, which would limit Medicaid funding of transgender drugs and procedures, including puberty blockers, hormones, hormone antagonists, sex-reassignment surgery or other procedures that change “primary or secondary” sexual characteristics while treating gender dysphoria.
“We can’t let this happen to children,” she responded to Ladapo on Twitter. “People in power allowed this to happen. I know you will help break this vicious cycle.
Cole’s testimony was hailed as “very thought-provoking” by a spokesman for the Florida Department of Health, which recently found that several gender dysphoria treatment services did not meet “widely accepted professional standards” and had the potential for long-term negative effects , Fox News reported.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Center for Transgender Equality did not respond to requests for comment on Cole’s testimony, according to the report.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order last month calling on the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure minors have access to transgender interventions, but doctors remain divided on the issue.
Cole said he supports Rule 59G-1.050, which would limit Medicaid funding of transgender drugs and procedures. Florida Department of Health
“I think the data that the gender affirmation model is based on is not scientific,” Dr. Matthew Benson, an endocrinologist in Jacksonville, told Fox News. “We need better data, we need long-term prospective trials where we can look at adverse effects. We need much more robust data to justify these types of very robust therapies.
Cole, meanwhile, previously told The Post that she believes she was “let down by the system” and now refuses to remain silent.
She wants to have children one day, but isn’t sure that will be a part of her future since her egg viability consisted of testosterone injections.
“I’m still in the dark about the big picture of my health right now,” she told The Post last month.
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