A 2021 study is back in the news again after a journalist highlighted its eye-opening conclusions, which undermine one of the central arguments of the transgender movement. 

The study, which was carried out in California and published by the American Urological Association, found that men who had transgender surgery (technically referred to as a vaginoplasty) were more likely to commit suicide after the operation than before. 

Its results were neatly summarized by health and science reporter Benjamin Ryan, who has written for a variety of liberal news outlets, including The Washington Post, The New York TImes, and The Guardian, among others.

He explained:

Study finds that the attempted-suicide rate among transgender women who received a vaginoplasty in California was twice as high during the period after the surgery compared with the period before the surgery. The investigators analyzed data on all 868 people who received a vaginoplasty and 357 people who received a phalloplasty in California from 2012-2018. There were an average of 2 years of data before and after surgery. 

A total of 22% of the vaginoplasty group and 21% of the phalloplasty group had at least one ER or in-patient psych encounter during the study period, whether before or after surgery. If there was a psych encounter prior to surgery, 34% of the vaginoplasty group and 27% of the phalloplasty group had a psych encounter after surgery. 

Among those receiving a vaginoplasty, the rate of suicide attempts was twice as high after the surgery, at 3.3%, compared with before, at 1.5%. The phalloplasty suicide-attempt rate was similar to the general population, while the vaginoplasty group's rate was more than twice as high as the general population.

Ryan's explanation was echoed by the study's authors, who wrote in their conclusion that although rates of psychiatric episodes were high both before and after the surgery, the risk of suicide is greater post-op:

Although both the phalloplasty and vaginoplasty patients have similar overall rates of psychiatric encounters, suicide attempts are more common in the later. In fact, our observed rate of suicide attempts in the phalloplasty group is actually similar to the general population, while the vaginoplasty group's rate is more than double that of the general population. 

Patients undergoing GAS with a history of prior psychiatric emergences or feminizing transition are at higher risk and should be counseled appropriately.

Such findings undermine one of the central premises of the transgender movement: that people suffering from gender dysphoria are at greater risk of self-harm or suicide if they are denied the opportunity to embrace their supposed identity and proceed with hormone therapy and a series of gruesome surgeries that often fail to deliver the desired result. 

Study finds that the attempted-suicide rate among transgender women who received a vaginoplasty in California was twice as high during the period after the surgery compared with the period before the surgery.

The investigaotrs analyzed data on all 868 people who received a… pic.twitter.com/RO6zKC7Xt3

— Benjamin Ryan (@benryanwriter) March 11, 2024

The findings come as the debate over transgenderism and society's willingness to encourage transgender surgery continues to sharply divide politicians, medical professionals, and the country as a whole. In 2022, a study from Pew Research found that 1.6 percent of U.S. adults identify as transgender or nonbinary, a staggering increase from the turn of the century when the issue was considered an extreme medical rarity. 

Editor's Note: This article and headline were edited post-publication to reflect that the referenced study was conducted in 2021.