The American Nurses Association, which describes itself as “the premier organization representing the interests of the nation’s 4.2 million registered nurses,” issued a statement on Wednesday opposing laws or polices that place restrictions on transgender health care or criminalize gender-affirming care.
Claiming “transgender and gender-diverse youth and their parents or guardians who choose to access gender-affirming care may come under legal assault in many states,” ANA declared, “The legislative intent and medical claims behind these laws are not grounded in reputable science and conflict with the nurse’s obligation to promote, advocate, and protect the rights, health, and safety of patients.”
“‘I absolutely think the ANA is failing children with this statement,” Jay Richards of The Heritage Foundation snapped to The Daily Mail. “It does not cite any scientific evidence, it is a piece of political advocacy that I honestly suspect is the product of a small group of people in the organization who are advocates.”
“Transgender and gender-diverse individuals report improved health and mental wellbeing after receiving gender-affirming care,” ANA claimed, suggesting to “learn more” about gender-affirming care people should visit the Texas Nurses Association Position Statement on Gender-Affirming Care.
That statement includes information such as this:
Medical affirmation involves reversible use of medications to suspend puberty up to the age of 16 and prevent secondary sex characteristics (such as breasts or facial hair) from developing; suspending puberty early can help youth avoid future surgical interventions. Surgical affirmation, generally non-reversible, includes surgery to masculinize or feminize physical features (hair implants or removals, facial augmentation, jawline reconstruction); surgery involving genitalia is typically reserved for adults.
Documents revealed in August showed that American pediatricians had slammed the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) for pushing puberty-blocking drugs for teens who claimed they were a different gender.
Furious pediatricians who are members of the AAP accused the AAP of changing its rules so that Resolution 27, which proposed a “rigorous systematic review” of the AAP’s 2018 gender policy, was blocked. The proposed resolution did not advance at the AAP leadership conference in Chicago, the only resolution affected by new procedural rules the AAP set up earlier this year.
Frustrated, members posted their objections to the AAP in the comments section for a separate resolution on the organization’s members-only website, The Daily Mail stated in an exclusive report. One comment declared, “The AAP is endorsing great harm without high-quality or long-term evidence of benefit.”
That comment added that the “transgender woman” who was the “country’s leading vaginoplasty surgeon” in some country reported that “100% of males put on the affirmative care/Dutch protocol lose all sexual sensation and function. They are stripped of the ability to ever have sexual intimacy or fall in love.”
“I am wholeheartedly in support of RESOLUTION 27, which interestingly, has been removed from the list of resolutions for comment,” another comment read. “I can no longer trust the AAP to provide medical evidence based education with regard to care for TGD individuals. This past year at the AAP national conference, ongoing debate on the matter was silenced egregiously.”
“Before promulgating gender-affirming care, with all of its ethical implications (irreversible bodily changes, sterility, etc.) … don’t we want to be sure this is the best path?” one pediatrician asked.
Julia Mason, one of the five authors of Resolution 27, told The Daily Mail, “’I’m really disappointed the AAP is being driven by ideology, rather than evidence. … They’re embarrassed that they’ve let young activist doctors get them on record in support of gender-affirming care, and now they can’t backtrack. They’ve suppressed my efforts and come up with new rules to hide what we’re trying to say from rank and file pediatricians.”