News/Commentary

College of Pediatricians rebukes transgender health secretary’s claim about gender affirming care for kids

June 23, 2022 | | Print Article

While Dr. Rachel Levine, the Biden administration’s assistant health secretary and the woke face of gender identity politics, continues to claim “there is no argument among medical professionals” about the need for life-altering surgical and chemical remedies for kids who think they were born in the wrong bodies, some pediatricians and psychologists are pushing back, alleging that there is “no evidence that transgender interventions are safe for children.”

As BizPac Review reported back in May, Levine, who represents the highest-ranking openly transgender person in government, doubled down on the need for “gender-affirming care,” which can result in administering puberty blockers and even “top” and “bottom” surgeries to remove or add breasts, reroute urogenital structures, or remove sexual organs.

“There is no argument among medical professionals — pediatricians, pediatric endocrinologists, adolescent medicine physicians, adolescent psychiatrists, psychologists, etc. — about the value and the importance of gender-affirming care,” Levine boldly declared on National Public Radio.

But the American College of Pediatricians (ACP) begs to differ.

In a blog entitled, “Transgender Interventions Harm Children,” ACP states, “There is not a single long-term study to demonstrate the safety or efficacy of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries for transgender-believing youth.”

“This means that youth transition is experimental, and therefore, parents cannot provide informed consent, nor can minors provide assent for these interventions,” AFP continues. “Moreover, the best long-term evidence we have among adults shows that medical intervention fails to reduce suicide.”

In fact, ACP explains, the puberty blockers may be leading to more suicides among already-emotional, anxiety-ridden teenagers.

“Puberty blockers may actually cause depression and other emotional disturbances related to suicide,” ACP says. “In fact, the package insert for Lupron, the number one prescribed puberty blocker in America, lists ’emotional instability’ as a side effect and warns prescribers to ‘Monitor for development or worsening of psychiatric symptoms during treatment.'”

In the U.K., a study on puberty blockers found the drugs only “exacerbated” the problem.

“There was no statistically significant difference in psychosocial functioning between the group given blockers and the group given only psychological support,” wrote Oxford University Professor Michael Biggs. “In addition, there is unpublished evidence that after a year on [puberty blocers] children reported greater self-harm, and the girls also experienced more behavioral and emotional problems and expressed greater dissatisfaction with their body — so puberty blockers exacerbated gender dysphoria.”

And, says the ACP, the negative effects of those puberty blockers — drugs liberals want made available to minors without parental consent or even knowledge — may cause permanent harm.

 

“Temporary use of Lupron has also been associated with and may be the cause of many serious permanent side effects including osteoporosis, mood disorders, seizures, cognitive impairment, and, when combined with cross-sex hormones, sterility,” the group warns.

For women who identify as men, the levels of testosterone they are given — 10 – 40 times the female reference range — can lead to “multiple psychiatric problems.”

Among patients receiving similar high doses, the ACP states, “23% of subjects met DSM [the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders] criteria for a major mood syndrome such as mania, hypomania, and major depression, and 3.4 – 12% developed psychotic symptoms.”

Additionally, the group claims, “cross-sex hormones put youth at an increased risk of heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, blood clots and cancers across their lifespan.”

“Add to this the fact that physically healthy transgender-believing girls are being given double mastectomies at 13 and hysterectomies at 16, while their male counterparts are referred for surgical castration and penectomies at 16 and 17, respectively, and it becomes clear that affirming transition in children is about mutilating and sterilizing emotionally troubled youth,” ACP stated.

And ACP isn’t alone in speaking out against “gender-affirming care” for youths, as it notes in its blog.

“Many medical organizations around the world, including the Australian College of Physicians, the Royal College of General Practitioners in the United Kingdom, and the Swedish National Council for Medical Ethics have characterized these interventions in children as experimental and dangerous,” ACP reports.

“World renowned Swedish psychiatrist Dr. Christopher Gillberg has said that pediatric transition is ‘possibly on of the greatest scandals in medical history’ and called for ‘an immediate moratorium on the use of puberty blocker drugs because of their unknown long-term effects.'”

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Melissa Fine
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