There are 67,000 members of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), National Review points out, but it only took a few dozen to change an 88-year-old policy. Like a lot of professional associations, the AAP sold out to the liberal agenda a long time ago. But its latest push -- supporting dangerous treatments for kids confused about their gender -- is a step too far. And parents from across America are letting them know.
It used to be that medicine was guided by science, or, at the very least, common sense. Now, both have flown out the window in this national stampede to encourage gender-free living. Earlier this fall, the AAP became the latest organization to turn its back on basic biology and stacks of research that show how damaging the pursuit of transgenderism can be. In teenagers or kids in particular, the devastation is far-reaching. "It's hard not to think that we might be harming children," one member of the AAP told NRO anonymously. "But if we say something publicly we could get in trouble."
Thumbing its nose at the millions of people urging caution, the AAP changed its official policy on minors struggling with gender confusion. "Big news! The American Academy of Pediatrics published a policy statement in support of trans kids today and it is TRULY supportive!" one activist tweeted. But supportive how? Certainly not in their pursuit of a healthy, fulfilling future. Instead, AAP's leadership believes we should encourage a radical ideology with minors that its counterpart, American College of Pediatricians, calls "child abuse."
"According to the DSM-5, as many as 98 percent of gender confused boys and 88 percent of gender confused girls eventually accept their biological sex after naturally passing through puberty," Dr. Michelle Cretella of the ACP warns. "Puberty-blocking hormones can be dangerous," she insists, and they're "associated with dangerous health risks including but not limited to cardiac disease, high blood pressure, blood clots, stroke, diabetes, and cancer." What self-respecting medical association would green light a course of treatment with such real-world risks?
One that's determined to put politics above patients. And parents have had just about enough. In a letter to the AAP, 1,000 moms and dads are protesting the association's radical new stance. "Our own children have become obsessed with the notion that they need powerful puberty blockers and hormones and bodily surgeries to transition to the opposite sex," wrote the anonymous group of over 1,100 parents with trans-struggling children in a press release. "The American Academy of Pediatrics fully supports this. We do not."
In a statement, the parents expressed "serious concerns" about the new policy, which they believe will "continue, and possibly worsen, the harm brought to many children by the recent radical changes to treatment guidelines for transgender-identifying youth." They write: "Many parents and caregivers have been coerced into thinking these treatments are necessary." But, what about their rights as moms and dads to disagree? If agendas like the AAP aren't stopped, parents won't have the final say in their children's treatment.
Just last week, one of the world's premier genital reconstruction surgeons spoke publicly about his fears that these procedures are doing more harm than good. His office has been flooded with unhappy and "even suicidal" patients, who thought sex reassignment surgery would bring the happiness they'd been hoping for. It didn't. Now, he worries, what will happen if children are rushed into the same procedures?
"While the World Professional Association for Transgender Health guidelines currently state nobody under the age of 18 should undergo surgery, Dr. Djordjevic fears this age limit could soon be reduced to include minors. Were that to happen, he says, he would refuse to abide by the rules. 'I'm afraid what will happen five to 10 years later with this person,' he says. 'It is more than about surgery; it's an issue of human rights. I could not accept them as a patient as I'd be afraid what would happen to their mind.'" Already, the same National Post article points out, doctors are being investigating for treating children as young as 12 with hormones.
In the parents' letter to the AAP, the 1,100 signatories remind the association, "We need you and our children need you... We are members of a rapidly growing online community of over 1,100 parents of transgender-identifying youth who need your help. We have no unifying political affiliation. We empathize with mature transgender-identifying people who deserve respect." But, they insist, "We need to stop the harm to our children."
