Republican State Rep. Jeff Shipley is inviting LGBTQ+ doctors to visit with famed ‘detransitioner’ Chloe Cole on Tuesday evening.
Shipley sent a letter to Dr. Katie Imborek and Dr. Dave Williams. Imborek, a doctor at the University of Iowa, and Williams, of UnityPoint Health, testified earlier this year at a House Government Oversight hearing defending sex-change treatments on kids.
Cole, a 19-year-old California woman, returns to Iowa this week. She will discuss her experience at the E3 Center in Mount Pleasant on Tuesday from 4-6 p.m.
At 15 years old, Cole underwent a double mastectomy to “affirm” her transgender identity. She now regrets undergoing the treatment and has filed a lawsuit against the doctors and hospital who medically affirmed her transgender identity.
Iowa prohibited sex-change procedures on minors earlier this year by passing House File 623.
Shipley noted in his letter that the testimony of Imobrek and Williams “forced” lawmakers to pass HF 263 into law. He asked both doctors about “detransition” during the hearing and both doctors claimed they were not familiar with the concept.
“You both testified on your adherence to the WPATH Standards of Care Version 8, yet when asked about ‘detransition,’ neither of you were able to articulate an intelligible response,” Shipley wrote. “This was alarming because the word ‘detransition’ appears no fewer than 30 times in the WPATH Standards of Care, including a definition in the glossary of terms. Being unfamiliar with the terminology used in your Standards of Care seems to indicate a prima facie case of medical malpractice within your clinic.”
A lack of long-term patient outcomes presented another reason HF 263 was needed, according to Shipley’s letter.
In closing, he said he would be happy to arrange an opportunity for the doctors to visit with Cole during her visit.
“‘Detransitioners’ definitely appear to be a patient cohort in desperate need of increased recognition, visibility and scientific study within the field of transgender medicine,” he wrote.
You can read Rep. Shipley’s full letter here.
