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Leading Medical Association Doubles Down on “Gender Affirming Care” for Minors

Posted on Friday, September 8, 2023
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by Katie Sullivan
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88 Comments
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AMAC Exclusive – By Katie Sullivan

Transgender and LGBTQ+ flag with stethoscope for gender-affirming care.

News last month that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) would be conducting a “systematic review” of the evidence supporting so-called “gender-affirming care” for minors left many conservatives hopeful that the U.S. medical establishment might finally reverse its enthusiastic support for life-altering drug regimens and surgical procedures for young people. But recent comments from AAP leadership have made clear that, far from rethinking their stance, the AAP is doubling down.

On August 9, the AAP board, which represents some 67,000 pediatricians and clinicians, voted unanimously to reaffirm its position from 2018 on gender-related care for minors, which included support for gender-affirming counseling, cross-sex hormones, and even surgeries like double mastectomies. The 2018 guidelines have been blasted by conservatives as thoroughly unscientific and rooted in left-wing ideology rather than any objective analysis of scientific evidence.

At the same time, AAP also authorized the development of an “expanded set of guidance for pediatricians based on a systematic review of the evidence” – wording that seemed to indicate the group was open to reconsidering its support for practices that even some who work in child gender clinics have questioned.

K R Stevens, writing for the National Institutes of Health’s online Library of Medicine, explains that systematic reviews “are carefully synthesized research evidence designed to answer focused clinical questions.” Furthermore, she writes, “Systematic reviews implement recently developed scientific methods to summarize results from multiple research studies.”

Such reviews have already led several of the most traditionally “progressive” countries in Europe to reverse course on prescribing “gender reassignment” surgeries and certain drugs for those under 18.

In Sweden, the National Board of Health and Welfare concluded “that the risks of puberty-inhibiting and gender-affirming hormone treatment for those under 18 currently outweigh the possible benefits for the group as a whole” after requesting a review of the research on the safety of hormone treatments last February. Some of the risks they cite include the possibility of detransition and the general lack of knowledge about “the treatment’s impact on gender dysphoria as well as the mental health and quality of life of minors.”

Notably, Sweden was the first country to introduce legal gender reassignment. Now, puberty blockers and sex change surgeries for minors have been almost entirely halted.

In 2020, the Finnish Health Authority also launched a systematic review which found evidence supporting the benefits of transgender-related treatments for minors to be “inconclusive.” Hormone therapies and surgeries for Finnish youth are now banned in almost all cases.

In June, England’s National Health Service moved to limit the use of “puberty suppressing hormones” to clinical research and no longer allow them to be “routinely commissioned for children and adolescents who have gender incongruence/dysphoria.”

With the American left historically following the latest trends in Europe, AAP’s announcement of its own “systematic review” created some hope that U.S. medical associations might also acknowledge the alarming lack of evidence supporting child gender transitions and advise a more cautious approach.

But subsequent comments from AAP leadership indicates that this is far from the case here. Stat News reported late last month that “AAP and other experts say the systematic review only indicates their confidence in the current standards of care.” In other words, the “systematic review” isn’t a review at all – it’s just a way for AAP to re-affirm their current stance on the matter.

AAP chief executive Mark Del Monte confirmed as much when he told the New York Times that the AAP board “has confidence that the existing evidence is such that the current policy is appropriate.” Neither Del Monte nor anyone else on the AAP board has shown even the slightest indication that they’re willing to reconsider their position.

The AAP has also vigorously opposed state laws which prohibit hormone therapy and sex-change operations for minors. Given how overtly political AAP has become, it seems more likely that the group will use their “systematic review” as just another tool to pressure policymakers to allow more expansive access to hormone therapies and surgeries.

Wherever an honest review of the evidence supporting child gender transitions has been conducted, the results have invariably pointed to the risks outweighing the potential benefits. But Americans shouldn’t hold their breath for any such outcome here.

Katharine “Katie” Sullivan was an Acting Assistant Attorney General and a senior advisor to the White House Domestic Policy Council under President Trump. She previously served 11 years as a state trial court judge in Colorado.

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Wendy Hampton
Wendy Hampton
1 year ago

This is so awful and sickening to abuse children this way.

Andy
Andy
1 year ago

Clearly, the AAP board, which represents some 67,000 pediatricians and clinicians, does not want to give up the millions of $$$$$$$$$$.

Joseph
Joseph
1 year ago

Leftists are just mentally ill.

George
George
1 year ago

This is a mental illness. Children have been indoctrinated into believing that they are gender confused. These so-called pediatricians are dispicable!

Stephen Russell
Stephen Russell
1 year ago

NO End this abuse now
NOT for kids

Rik
Rik
1 year ago

Sorry Comrade wannabe Communist Democrats, but Common Sense PROVES that if a person is BORN A MALE OR FEMALE IS EXACTLY THAT! . . . Wishing something was different, doesn’t make it so! I would suggest complaining to your Maker when you meet him but Good Luck with that. Again, STUPID IS, STUPID DOES!

Corbin L Douthitt
Corbin L Douthitt
1 year ago

disgusting.

Bill Calligan
Bill Calligan
1 year ago

Mr. Del Monte and his staff need to be replaced immediately with people that have some common sense. Possibly the AAP is also receiving funding from Geo. Soros & Co.

Sharon
Sharon
1 year ago

I posted this on Facebook, noting how carelessly the word “care” is used in AAP’s view of this controversy. In the dictionary, one of several definitions says “responsibility for or attention to health, well-being, and safety under a doctor’s care.”
Their actions hardly seem caring when such bold, irreversible procedures are performed on CHILDREN. We need sanity restored in our world!

Charles
Charles
1 year ago

Any “Pediatrician” who is a member of AAP does not deserve the privilege of caring for kids of parents who love them. Cut them off at the “pocketbook”.
Then sue them (class action) for child abuse, physical and mental, and a few more “goodies”.

PaulE
PaulE
1 year ago

More and more doctors are dropping their membership to this AAP organization, as it continues to shift farther and farther away from responsible medicine towards simply advocating for unscientific and medically unsound practices promoted by the left. Like other medical organizations over the last several years, the leadership of many of these organizations have been hijacked by the left and now simply act as vehicles to advance political policies. As usual, it is up to the parents of their own children to be knowledgeable and proactive about where their own doctors that care for their children stand relative to these destructive agendas and take appropriate action to safeguard their children.

Richard Hennessy
Richard Hennessy
1 year ago

Apparently, the AAP is an association of medical quacks. They should all go back to reputable medical schools and get educated. The association must be led by mostly graduates of Ivy League schools.

Philip Seth Hammersley
Philip Seth Hammersley
1 year ago

As noted above, countries which have tried this IDIOCY are now backtracking! Our “experts,” who have ZERO sense, are deaf and blind to the HARM they are perpetrating on kids. They need to be SUED for malpractice and bankrupted!!

Pat R
Pat R
1 year ago

Seems these days the word “political” is used to describe leftist belief. Here it said “Given how overtly political AAP has become…” may cover for the likelihood the AAP Board has been paid off, one way or the other. It’s always about greed, even the so-called ‘political’ stance in most cases.

LAS
LAS
1 year ago

They change these children physically to be the opposite sex than they were born. Is this so they can pretend better? You can’t change your sex, you can change your appearance, but are still what you are. And they make it even worse by demanding that we pretend with them. No thanks.

Ol'man
Ol'man
1 year ago

Are we accepting the AAP board, which represents some 67,000 pediatricians and clinicians to make it ok to do this? It’s hard for me to believe that there are 67,000 pediatricians that go along with this. I’m sure there’s an elite board of only 20 to 30 people that have voted and agreed with this fiasco and the rest are just quitely running their clinics. Maybe It’s time that those 67,000 pediatricians and clinicians to clean up their board. Or better yet Maybe it’s time that we all started taking a closer look our local pediatricians and clinicians. You may go so far as to ask them what their belief on this subject is and if it didn’t aline with what your beliefs are, I’d be finding me another pediatrician. I suspect that to the AAP board, it’s all about the dollar but to my childern or grandchildren, it’s all about their souls….

DenvilleSr
DenvilleSr
1 year ago

If you have the mental capacity at 10 years of age to decide you are a different gender than your DNA and body parts define you as, then you should be also be able to vote and drive a car. If liberals believe that 10 year olds will also register as Democrats when they are picking up their drivers licenses, voting at 10 will be the next push.

Myrna
Myrna
1 year ago

For a long time, American parents were the example and protectors of their own children.
Children don’t have full capacity to make all their own choices until they are about 25 year of age.
When did so many abdicate responsibility? When did self-appointed experts become so stupid?

anna hubert
anna hubert
1 year ago

A crime against humanity only there will not be a trial to deal with the perpetrators Who needs the weapons of mass destruction when medical profession is capable to do the job

Charles Williams
Charles Williams
1 year ago

They may be grabbing clickbait headlines but, my question is how many Pediatric doctors are actually members of the AAP. The last I heard, and admittedly it’s been some time but the AMA only had a less than 20% membership. Does anyone know how many Pediatric doctors the AAP actually represents?

Craig Bosley
Craig Bosley
1 year ago

This could not be more wrong. In my mind this is blatant malpractice what they support doing to young children. This is a part of our downward slide to the lowest common denominator.

Joanne Hines
Joanne Hines
1 year ago

The medical community has become untrustworthy. Profit, not health, is the main focus.

Lynda
Lynda
1 year ago

Whatever happened to “do no harm”?

Steve
Steve
1 year ago

Another so called medical association that no longer has any credibility.

mickey
mickey
1 year ago

It’s all about the money and greed. It has nothing to do with care or rights. these people will have to face Gods wrath whether they believe in Him or not. And in the meantime these children will face a lifetime of suffering and medications.

Thinking
Thinking
1 year ago

AAP just confirmed they are following blindly the politics of the dems. They must be using Dr Mengele’s playbook. In God’s name where is our country coming to. Where can we parents go for help to get protection for our children. WAKE UP AMERICA.

Freudosa
Freudosa
1 year ago

In post-science America, there was no way they would let go of this cash cow, plus the left’s continued de-evolution attempts must continue to justify the eventual need of “the great reset.”

dianne
dianne
1 year ago

Just more proof that is country is now beyond anything Sodem and Gamora ever thought about.

Dennis Lloyd
Dennis Lloyd
1 year ago

Naturally. It means $millions in new revenue avenues. Money is everything. The oath to “do no harm” refers to their bank accounts, not humans.

Nitecat
Nitecat
1 year ago

Every Republican, Independant, libertarian, and any decent Democrat left has understand that every major institution in America is now under the control of radical leftists who are actively destroying the United States of America. That includes all children. No one is safe. Anyone acting like, ” Well, this, too shall pass, but Trump makes me uncomfortable ” , sorry! Every candidate for any office must be clear : protect the children and the border and our rights !!

TommyD
TommyD
1 year ago

The inmates are running the asylum!! This is insanity and these people (doctors??) must be receiving some serious “grant” money or something else to go against ethics and common sense. Would these same doctors let an 11 year old drive a car, serve in the military, drink alcohol? No, no and NO, yet they are saying these CHILDREN are old enough to make life altering decisions, some of which cannot be taken back. Ludicrous.

Valerie
Valerie
1 year ago

Sad-follow the money!!

Jan
Jan
1 year ago

Are we surprised? The majority of pediatricians are now female. (72%) These woke women believe they are helping children–apparently better than their parents or guardians can. The same women that think children are incapable of making choices for themselves when it comes to medicines, helmets, seatbelts, car seats, etc, can now decide what gender they are without parental input. As a female I can honestly say that we are own worst enemies. I’ve said it time and time again when I see the lack of true intelligence and common sense among them. I guess that we can now say that pediatricians are to be blamed for biological female athletes being unable to have fair sports competitions. Again–we are our own worst enemies!

Vietvet 6769
Vietvet 6769
1 year ago

What are these people try to play God! Let sex be determined by God and Nature,

Jimmy P
Jimmy P
1 year ago

Are there ANY Democrats against this abomination?????????

CLIFFORD F GERACI
CLIFFORD F GERACI
1 year ago

Liberalism is a mental disease that progressively gets worse over time….and so the term Progressive is born.

David Millikan
David Millikan
1 year ago

You can’t trust any of them since both the AAP and AMA have been playing politics since obamacare started. You have nothing but so-called doctors playing politics instead of practicing medicine.
Remember, each one of them that graduates from Medical School has to SIGN A PLEDGE to Practice that ESG GARBAGE before they can get their Medical License. NO BS.
There was a news article on it some months back detailing how today’s Doctors Practice Politics instead of Medicine.
From personal experience they are correct.

Enuf Said
Enuf Said
1 year ago

Leading Medical ASS leading people to judgment before God and ushering them right into the “smoking section”.

S.T.
S.T.
1 year ago

Follow the money…

tempus
tempus
1 year ago

How can any rational person trust people who not only support mutilating children but also advocate mutilating them? Yet, many people continue to trust and believe these mutilators.

FREMA BYRD
FREMA BYRD
1 year ago

I happen to believe that like the American Medical Association, (AMA), more and more legitimate caring healthcare providers are dropping their memberships in the AMA because the organization no longer supports their values. And I believe that Pediatricians will begin to abandon AAP for the same reasons.

jakespeed
jakespeed
1 year ago

HIPPA medical matters belong to the parent and minor children, until the age of 18.

Rick B.
Rick B.
1 year ago

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is not a board certified physician. It has no business dictating medical care for anybody, even it is composed of physicians. It is using this group affiliation as a shield against the legal ramifications of its erroneous stands, decisions that if those doctors were to make individually could bring on lawsuits for medical malpractice.
Time for psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors and any other professionals dispensing medical advise to pay the piper. Obstetricians know the cost of malpractice insurance. These folks must learn the same lesson to bring a halt to this free-wheeling assault against our youth.
I personally know an adult who is a male-to-female transsexual. The testosterone suppressant drug he was being prescribed for this purpose was destroying his kidneys according to his nephrologist. Similarly, the estrogen female hormone he is being given has been linked to cancer in females undergoing hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Man, the lawyers are going to have a field day.

Richard Helzer
Richard Helzer
1 year ago

The “Doctor” Mengeles’ are among us. I guess the Hippocratic Oath reeks of white supremacy and “transphobia” and therefore must be repudiated by these butchers.
I hope that there are more pediatricians out there in practice who firmly and courageously oppose this vile evil and the mountain of lies that it sitting atop of.

Rick

B J mac
B J mac
1 year ago

That is why many Americans no longer listen to the sp called ‘Experts’. They no longer tell the truth but only propaganda from the social Democratic Party.

Patriot Eric
Patriot Eric
1 year ago

These folks are a disease that should be eradicated!

Gene Skipper Mead
Gene Skipper Mead
1 year ago

Unanimously? 67,000 votes and not one dissenting vote? Or was it just the board? Sounds more than a little thin on facts to me.

Robert Zuccaro
Robert Zuccaro
1 year ago

Pedophiles are just another voting demographic Democrats can caucus with. BTW: Go to google Map and search for “Polaris Point Guam”. There’s a building that used to be a gym in 2001 that’s now called the “Mental & Sexual Health Clinic”. Kind of makes you wonder why the Navy needs this since they have a Naval hospital on Nimitz Hill Guam. I suppose they stopped calling everyone “sir/ma’am” in lieu of “acceptable pronouns” as well.

Socrates
Socrates
1 year ago

A bunch of money hungry shameless people.

Barbara
Barbara
1 year ago

Have not trusted them for years. They are in Big Pharmas’ pocket big time.

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