CV NEWS FEED // A group of pediatricians, doctors, ethicists, medical organizations, and others this week launched the Doctors Protecting Children Coalition Declaration, which denounces puberty blockers and “transgender” surgeries for children as harmful, unscientific, and dangerous.
In a June 6 press conference hosted by the American College of Pediatricians, held in Washington, D.C. Dr. Jill Simmons, a pediatrician and the executive director for the American College of Pediatricians, explained the background of the Declaration and what its aims are.
The American College of Pediatricians authored the Declaration, Simmons said, “but really, it was developed from the expertise of doctors, researchers and other healthcare workers and leaders who, for years, have been sounding the alarm on the harmful protocols that continue to be promoted by the medical organizations in the United States.”
Simmons pointed to the recent “WPATH Files” leak and the recent independent review by Dr. Hillary Cass, which found that current treatments recommended for children suffering from gender dysphoria are built on “shaky foundations.”
Despite the recent findings from the WPATH Files and Cass’ report, Simmons continued, many leading “medical organizations have not changed course” and continue to promote puberty blockers and “transgender” surgery for children.
“We are here defying the claims made by these medical organizations in the US that those of us who are concerned are a minority, and that their protocols are consensus,” Simmons stated. “They are not consensus, and we are speaking in a loud and unified voice: enough.”
Simmons said the Coalition is calling upon the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Pediatric Endocrine Society, the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and other U.S.-based medical organizations to immediately cease their promotion of these practices.
The Declaration affirms “that sex is a dimorphic, innate trait defined in relation to an organism’s biological role in reproduction, male and female,” Simmons said. “This genetic signature is present in every nucleated somatic cell in the body, and is not altered by drugs or surgical interventions.”
Sound medical care and policy-making must account for these physiological differences, she said, continuing: “Medical decision-making should be based upon an individual’s biological sex. It should respect biological reality, and the dignity of the person, by compassionately addressing the whole person.”
Representatives from other medical and health policy organizations were also present at the press conference.
Family physician Dr. Andre Van Mol, representing the Christian Medical and Dental Associations, the American College of Pediatricians, and the American Academy of Medical Ethics, spoke at the press conference about appropriate approaches to treating children suffering from gender dysphoria and how “trans” surgeries fall short of accomplishing this.
“Gender dysphoria is a diagnosis, whereas transgenderism is an ideology,” Van Mol said. “The natural course of gender dysphoria is desistance by adulthood conservatively in 85% of the cases unless it is affirmed.”
“The probability of both desistance and underlying mental health and other issues, is why watchful waiting, coupled with mental health evaluation and counseling for both patient and family, was once and is increasingly again recognized as the standard of care for minors with gender dysphoria,” Van Mol said, later stating:
Transition affirmation is not proven to be safe or effective long-term. It does not reduce suicides. It does not repair mental health issues or trauma.
Minors cannot give truly informed consent; children have developing and immature brains, their minds change often, they are prone to risk-taking, they are vulnerable to peer pressure, and they don’t grasp long-term consequences.
He emphasized that refusing to perform “gender-transition” procedures is both non-discriminatory and a professional standard when caring for children suffering from gender dysphoria, especially because the safety and effectiveness of these procedures lack scientific support.
“There are good mental health alternatives to gender-affirming healthcare which address underlying issues, rather than dodging them,” he said. “Finally, there is always a more honest way to deal with gender confusion than the chemical sterilization and surgical mutilation of healthy young bodies.”
The several Catholic organizations that signed the Declaration included the Catholic Medical Association, the National Catholic Bioethics Center, and the National Association of Catholic Nurses, USA.
To read the full Declaration and see the full list of organizations, doctors, and health care professionals who have signed the Declaration, click here.
