More than 100 health care professionals and groups have signed onto a declaration calling on major medical organizations to halt dangerous transgender medical interventions for children.
The “Doctors Protecting Children Declaration” was signed by doctors, nurses, psychotherapists, scientists, researchers, and others, who announced the declaration at a Thursday press conference in Washington, D.C., The Daily Signal first reported.
“We are here defying the claims made by these medical organizations in the U.S. that those of us who are concerned are a minority, and that their protocols are consensus,” Dr. Jill Simmons, a pediatrician and the executive director for the American College of Pediatricians, said at the press conference. “They are not consensus, and we are speaking in a loud and unified voice: enough.”
The group said in their declaration that they have “serious concerns about the physical and mental health effects of the current protocols promoted for the care of children and adolescents in the United States who express discomfort with their biological sex.”
The declaration sounded the alarm on subjecting gender dysphoric children to medical interventions like transgender surgeries, cross-sex hormones, and puberty blockers, saying these treatments involve “serious long-term risks” including “sterility.”
“Evidence-based medical research now demonstrates there is little to no benefit from any or all suggested ‘gender affirming’ interventions for adolescents experiencing Gender Dysphoria. Social ‘affirmation,’ puberty blockers, masculinizing or feminizing hormones, and surgeries, individually or in combination, do not appear to improve long-term mental health of the adolescents, including suicide risk,” the group said.
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One issue is the lack of long-term followup studies on children who have undergone these treatments, the group noted. Another issue is the “immature, often impulsive, nature of the adolescent brain.”
“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,” the health care providers wrote.
Also, socially transitioning children, which can involve a child picking a new name and pronouns and changing their appearance, can lead to medical interventions later, warned the group, which includes several psychiatrists and counselors.
The group also took issue with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), saying its guidelines are “demonstrably flawed,” yet many gender clinics follow them.
Instead, psychotherapy for underlying mental health issues like autism, depression, anxiety, and trauma should be the “first line of treatment” for children experiencing discomfort with their biological sex, the group said.
The group noted that other countries including England, Scotland, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland have all pumped the brakes on transgender medical interventions for children.
“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,” the group said. “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 called on the main U.S. medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society, the American Medical Association, and the American Psychological Association to “immediately stop” promoting 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,” the group stated.
Several health care organizations signed onto the declaration as well, including the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, the Catholic Medical Association, Genspect, and the National Association of Catholic Nurses.