By L.A. Williams
Christian Action League
July 10, 2024
The American College of Pediatricians and more than a dozen other health organizations are issuing a wake-up call to the rest of the U.S. medical community, urging them to stop recommending drugs and surgical procedures for children who are struggling with their identity.
“It is time that these American medical institutions follow the science and the lead of our European professional colleagues and cease to promote protocols that harm children, including the promotion of social affirmation, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries for children and adolescents who experience distress over their biological sex,” said Dr. Jill Simons, pediatrician and executive director of ACPeds, in a recent press release. ACPeds members signed a 2,400-word “Doctors Protecting Children Declaration” affirming sex as a dimorphic, innate genetic trait that cannot be altered by drugs or surgery and stressing the fact that the practice of sound medicine requires consideration of the differences between the sexes.
The Dr. James Dobson Family Institute celebrated the announcement from ACPeds, declaring: “Rarely in our time have we heard a bolder or clearer statement concerning ‘transgenderism’ than this one.” The Institute urged Christians to be encouraged by the organization’s stand.
“Courage begets courage, and these doctors have dared to challenge the existing narrative,” the organization announced. “We may feel overmatched today in the public square, but we are on the side of truth—not miles away from the so-called ‘right side of history,’ as we’re told. The side of truth is the right side of history.”
The Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League, also welcomed the news from ACPeds, which comes less than a year after North Carolina lawmakers passed legislation making it illegal for medical professionals to perform surgical gender transition procedures on minors or to prescribe puberty-blocking drugs or cross-sex hormones for them. The law, enacted in August, thanks to votes in the House and Senate to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto, is being challenged in court by a 9-year-old whose lawyers claim that it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. Creech said the ACPeds declaration should strengthen the state’s position in the case.
The detailed and common-sense proclamation explains that categorizing people based on feelings leads to the false conclusion that they can be born in the wrong body. “Gender ideology seeks to affirm thoughts, feelings and beliefs, with puberty blockers, hormones, and surgeries that harm healthy bodies, rather than affirm biological reality,” it reads, adding that “medical decision-making should not be based upon an individual’s thoughts and feelings,” but rather on his or her biological sex.
The pediatricians list a dozen points of evidence for their position, beginning with the fact that “most children and adolescents whose thoughts and feelings do not align with their biological sex will resolve those mental incongruencies after experiencing the normal developmental process of puberty.” One study cited in the report showed a desistance rate of nearly 88 percent among clinic-referred boys with gender dysphoria.
The report further points out that responsible, informed consent for procedures such as those recommended by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) is not possible in light of only limited long-term follow-up studies of interventions and the immature, often impulsive, nature of the adolescent brain. It cites the Cass Review commissioned by England’s National Health Services and released in April as clear research demonstrating the failure of WPATH protocols and also points to a study in Germany that concluded that “Current evidence doesn’t suggest that gender dysphoria symptoms and mental health significantly improve when puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones are used in minors with gender dysphoria.”
Beyond giving evidence that the treatments simply do not work, the ACPeds declaration points out “serious long-term risks associated with the use of social transition, puberty blockers, masculinizing or feminizing hormones, and surgeries, not the least of which is potential sterility.” Puberty blockers not only permanently disrupt physical, cognitive, emotional and social development, but they can produce side effects such as worsening psychological illness, low bone density, impaired memory and even brain swelling, the pediatricians report. Further, cross-sex hormones are associated with health risks such as cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, heart attacks, blood clots, stroke, diabetes and cancer.
As further proof of the problems with WPATH protocols, the declaration points to a March 2024 report from Environmental Progress revealing “widespread medical malpractice on children and vulnerable adults at the global transgender healthcare authority.” That EP release was based on files leaked from WPATH itself.
ACPeds asserts that psychotherapy to address underlying mental health issues should be the first line of treatment for children struggling with their biological sex. Their report points to England, Scotland, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, which have recognized that so-called “gender affirming care” is not only unhelpful but harmful and have paused the protocols in their countries.
The Doctors Protecting Children Declaration calls out the following organizations specifically, urging them to adhere to evidence-based research and to use comprehensive evaluations and therapies for young people with gender dysphoria: The American Academy of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society, the Pediatric Endocrine Society, the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
To offer a reliable medical resource on the topic for teens, parents, doctors and lawmakers, ACPeds has also launched a website called Biological Integrity. The site includes a map showing the 25 states that have enacted legislation protecting minors from harmful transgender interventions.
To read the entire Doctors Protecting Children Declaration and see the list of co-signers, visit www.doctorsprotectingchildren.org.
To see the leaked WPATH files, visit Environmental Progress.
