FOX Original Report: A group of attorneys general from across the country is calling on the nation's leading pediatric organizations to withdraw their support for sex-reassignment procedures for children, including puberty-suppressing drugs and surgery.
Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador sent a letter to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on Tuesday, accusing the organization of abandoning its “commitment to sound medical judgment.”
“An end to what can only be described as medical experimentation on children is long overdue, especially since the majority of children diagnosed with gender dysphoria 'outgrow' and stop experiencing the condition by adolescence or adulthood,” the letter reads. “It is abusive to treat children with drugs that cause biological changes whose physiological pathways and endpoints are unknown, and it is inhumane to approve experiments whose safety is uncertain, especially when, in many cases, they will prove to be medically unnecessary.”
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Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador speaks outside the Supreme Court in Washington, DC on April 24, 2024. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
“Yet the AAP continues to authoritatively declare that puberty suppressants are 'reversible,'” the letter continued. “This assertion is scientifically unsupported and contradicts what is known medically, and the signatories are alarmed because this assertion calls into question under most state consumer protection laws.”
Last year, the AAP reiterated its commitment to support “gender-affirming care” and expanded its guidelines for pediatricians to “ensure that young people receive the reproductive and gender-affirming health care they need and are seen, heard and valued as they truly are,” AAP CEO Mark Del Monte said at the time.
The AAP has released several reports on reaffirming transgender youth's preferred gender identity. In January, the AAP released a report titled “Banning Gender-Confirming Care as a Form of Child Abuse: Reframing the Debate,” which argued that many bills aimed at restricting transgender treatment for children would lead to poor mental health outcomes.
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People wave transgender pride flags during the LA Pride Parade on June 11, 2023 in Hollywood, California. (Robin Beck/AFP via Getty Images)
“Ultimately, the AAP's statements and guidance influence how physicians practice medicine and treat children, and because health care professionals rely on the AAP when making treatment decisions, parents and children are harmed by the AAP's misleading and deceptive claims,” the letter states. “When pediatricians are told by the AAP that a child's treatment with puberty suppressants is 'reversible,' that claim becomes part of their medical discussions and decision-making with parents and children.”
The letter was signed by the attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Utah, as well as the President of the Arizona Senate and the Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives.
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“Children with gender dysphoria need and deserve love, support and medical care that is based on their biological reality,” Attorney General Labrador said. (Adobe Stock)
“Children with gender dysphoria need and deserve love, support and medical care that is based on biological reality,” Labrador told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Parents should be able to trust that their doctor's medical guidance isn't just the latest talking point in a dangerous and discredited activist agenda.”
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The letter comes as child sex-reassignment surgery has become a cultural issue in the 2024 presidential election, and private documents released over the summer showed that Biden administration health officials successfully pressured the World Professional Association of Transgender Health Care (WPATH) to remove age restrictions from its guidelines for adolescent sex-reassignment surgery.
Fox News Digital has reached out to AAP for comment.
