Commentary
Attorneys General Warn American Academy of Pediatrics It May Be Breaking the Law With Child Gender Statements
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Twenty attorneys general signed a letter to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Tuesday warning the medical association that its statements supporting gender medical interventions for children are “deceptive” and may violate states’ consumer protection laws.
The letter, led by Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador, asks the AAP to substantiate its claims that puberty blockers are reversible and to provide information on its communications surrounding its gender medicine guidance.
“Amid a fracturing consensus among the medical establishment on sex change surgeries and drugs for minors, the American Academy of Pediatrics has refused to reevaluate their recommendations,” said Do No Harm Senior Fellow Dr. Jared Ross. “We applaud Attorney General Labrador and all the other attorneys general who are holding the AAP accountable for endorsing unscientific, experimental, and potentially harmful treatments.”
The letter pointed to the AAP’s 2018 policy statement – that the organization reaffirmed in August 2023 – that characterized puberty blockers as “reversible.”
“The 2018 AAP policy statement itself demonstrates that the ‘reversible’ claim is misleading and deceptive,” the letter states. “It acknowledges that ‘[r]esearch on long-term risks, particularly in terms of bone metabolism and fertility, is currently limited and provides varied results.’ The AAP has no basis to assure parents that giving their children puberty blockers can be fully reversed. It just isn’t true.”
Puberty blockers can cause diminished bone density in minors, with research showing that they negatively affect “bone mineral density, especially at the lumbar spine, which is only partially restored after sex steroid administration.”
Moreover, artificially preventing a child from going through puberty is inherently experimental, and there are long-term risks such as cognitive impairment, greater risk of infertility, and permanently impaired adult sexual function. Additionally, nearly all children put on puberty blockers go on to take cross-sex hormones.
“The application of these laws to the AAP’s claim is straightforward,” the letter states. “First, statements made by medical trade associations, like the AAP, are subject to state consumer protection laws. Second, misleading and deceptive statements of medical trade associations are connected to commerce and reach consumers.”
The letter asks the AAP for records of communications with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) related to WPATH’s recommended age minimums for gender medical interventions. Court records show the AAP warned it would not endorse WPATH’s standards of care for gender medicine if the age minimums were put in place.
