Event Banner

Major medical associations called out for pushing experimental gender treatments on children

/

The horrifying truth is these medical associations already know that the push to socially and medically “affirm” a child as the opposite sex is harmful. There is no way they couldn’t know. So what this declaration is fighting isn’t ignorance but something much more sinister.


Medical associations and doctors have sent a declaration to major U.S. medical associations demanding that they follow evidence and the lead of European countries and cease promoting transgender surgeries and other gender affirmation treatments in minors.

The declaration, entitled “Doctors Protecting Children Declaration,” is led by the American College of Pediatricians and cosigned by numerous other medical groups such as the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, American Academy of Medical Ethics, American College of Family Medicine, and many others, as well as individual medical professionals.

The signees call on 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 stop promoting social affirmations, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries for children who experience confusion over their sex.

The declaration cites numerous studies showing the harmful effects of what is euphemistically called “gender-affirming care,” as well as other studies that show that feelings of discomfort regarding their sex desists in nearly all children as they age.

Four different studies cited show that gender dysphoria rarely persists into adulthood, including a 25-year study by a university in the Netherlands.

The declaration also notes that transgender treatment protocols created by advocacy group World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and promoted by major medical associations have been shown to be fraught with flaws, including that the organization did not report negative effects of gender treatments, among them one death.

Journalist Michael Shellenberger exposed the guidelines in what he called The WPATH Files. The documents show that WPATH members knew that children were unable to truly give informed consent and even that the treatments could cause harmful effects, including cancer. Doctors also performed gender transitions on children with mental health issues like post-traumatic stress disorder and dissociative identity disorder.

Also featured in the signees’ findings is the Cass Review commissioned by the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS) and led by Dr. Hillary Cass. The 388-page report found that there was no benefit to puberty blockers.

The declaration notes that Lupron, which is used for delaying puberty, can cause, “emotional lability, worsening psychological illness, low bone density, impaired memory, and the rare side-effect of pseudotumor cerebri (brain swelling).”

They also state, “Testosterone use in females and estrogen use in males are associated with dangerous health risks across the lifespan including, but not limited to, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, heart attacks, blood clots, stroke, diabetes, and cancer.”

The signees claim, “Psychotherapy for underlying mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and autism, as well as prior emotional trauma or abuse should be the first line of treatment for these vulnerable children experiencing discomfort with their biological sex.”

They note a handful of European countries which have restricted gender transitions in children, explaining,

“England, Scotland, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland have all recognized the scientific research demonstrating that the social, hormonal and surgical interventions are not only unhelpful but are harmful. So, these European countries have paused protocols and are instead focusing on evaluating and treating the underlying and preceding mental health concerns.

Despite all the above evidence that gender affirming treatments are not only unhelpful, but are harmful, and despite the knowledge that the adolescent brain is immature, professional medical organizations in the United States continue to promote these interventions. Further, they state that legislation to protect children from harmful interventions is dangerous since it interferes with necessary medical care for children and adolescents.”

The declaration concludes with several calls to action:

“Therefore, given the recent research and the revelations of the harmful approach advocated by WPATH and its followers in the United States, we, the undersigned, call upon the medical professional organizations of the United States…to follow the science and their European professional colleagues and immediately stop the promotion of social affirmation, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries for children and adolescents who experience distress over their biological sex.

Instead, these organizations should recommend comprehensive evaluations and therapies aimed at identifying and addressing underlying psychological co-morbidities and neurodiversity that often predispose to and accompany gender dysphoria. We also encourage the physicians who are members of these professional organizations to contact their leadership and urge them to adhere to the evidence-based research now available.”

In a recent article on the Cass Review, Standing for Freedom Center contributor Nathan Skates stated,

“A very large percentage of children who believe they are the wrong sex have other mental health issues or trauma that is going untreated. Many are autistic. As [whistleblower Jamie] Reed noted, often clusters of girls, entire friend groups, will suddenly identify as transgender.

Puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and gender surgeries cause a plethora of adverse effects. The testimonies of detransitioners are creating a mountain of horror stories so high it can no longer be hidden.

Given all of this, medical professionals who continue to participate in such experimental, irreversible treatments on children are guilty of malpractice — either because they are willfully ignoring data that is crucial to patient care in their field or because they continue to act against their patients’ best interest out of fear, greed, or commitment to a twisted ideology.

There is no world in which a trained medical professional could ethically sign on to such horrific, mutilating, life-destroying treatments, and the fact that they are being directed to do so by those major U.S. medical associations, regulatory agencies, and healthcare institutions that have been ideologically captured by the LGBTQ movement is no excuse.

The horrifying truth is these medical associations already know that the push to socially or medically “affirm” a child as the opposite sex is harmful. There is no way they couldn’t know. So what this declaration is fighting isn’t ignorance but something much more sinister.

Just ask surgeon Dr. Eithan Haim.

Haim worked at Texas Children’s Hospital, which following the passage of state law banning gender transitions on minors publicly claimed that it was shutting down its gender clinic and would no longer provide gender transitioning treatments. That was a lie. In fact, it was still performing gender transitions and concealing it from the public.

Haim blew the whistle, exposing the medical malpractice and criminal activity.

Soon after Haim exposed the hospital, the Department of Justice showed up at his door to tell him he was being investigated.

This week, the DOJ indicted Haim for allegedly violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA). Journalist Christopher Rufo, who broke Haim’s story, said that there was nothing in the information Haim provided him that identified the individuals involved as it had been carefully redacted. Dr. Phil McGraw, who had Haim on his show about the transgender medical treatments, noted this as well.

Haim didn’t violate HIPPA. He exposed the evils that many powerful people don’t want the public to know. Hospitals are performing Mengele-esque experiments while hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and LGBTQ activists are making a fortune sterilizing and mutilating children and turning them into lifelong medical patients.

Money, ideology, and fear all play into the motivations for destroying children’s lives. And as the DOJ is showing, anyone who gets in the way will be silenced.


If you like this article and other content that helps you apply a biblical worldview to today’s politics and culture, consider making a donation here.

Not Just Conservative.

Christian conservative news and issues that matter. Curated just for you!

Tired of your social media feed being censored?

For more timely, informative, and faith-based content, subscribe to the Standing for Freedom Center Newsletter

×
Join us in our mission to secure the foundations of freedom for future generations
Donate Now
Completing this poll entitles you to receive communications from Liberty University free of charge.  You may opt out at any time.  You also agree to our Privacy Policy.