Monday, 30 June 2025

Inside The American Medical Establishment’s Bitter Refusal To Rethink Trans Procedures For Kids


It seems the whole world is rethinking the transgender procedures for kids.

Peer-reviewed studies show their long-term harm. European countries are moving to ban the practice. And just last week, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Skrmetti that Tennessee’s law banning trans procedures for minors could stand. That landmark decision opens the door for future bans, and even caused The New York Times to warn that the case may have “set the movement back a generation.”

But one group simply refuses to back down: the American medical establishment.

The American Medical Association (AMA) recently reaffirmed its commitment to performing transgender procedures on minors, as The Daily Wire recently chronicled.

They’re joined by a coalition of groups that essentially represent the entirety of the American medical establishment — including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists — to say nothing of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, which has long been at the forefront of the effort to make transgender procedures available to children.

American Medical Association

The AMA’s new president, Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, condemned Skrmetti, saying without a hint of irony that “all patients deserve access to high-quality, evidence-based medical care.” He added that decisions about medical treatment “must be made through a shared decision-making process between the patient and their physician.”

(L-R) Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, President of the American Medical Association; PFLAG National CEO Brian K. Bond; Admiral Rachel L. Levine, MD, the 17th Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and Charlotte Clymer, writer, transgender activist, and military veteran attend Learning With Love: The 2023 PFLAG National Convention, four days of educating, lobbying, networking, and leading with love, taking place October 19-22, 2023 in Washington, DC.

Paul Morigi/Getty Images for PFLAG National

Though the AMA has new leadership, the support for transgender procedures for children goes back years. About a year and a half ago, the AMA hosted a conversation on “what doctors should know” about so-called trans teens. The conversation was jarring, with one doctor claiming a child can know their gender is apparently wrong by age four

“What we know about gender formation for all human beings is that young people really do know their gender by about age four,” Dr. M. Brett Cooper said. “It’s that young female assigned at birth that says, ‘Mom, I am a boy,’ or, ‘Mom, I’m like my brother. I’m a boy too.’ And they keep saying that, over and over and over again. Those are the folks that likely, but not always, will have a very firm gender diverse identity.” 

Notably, in October 2024, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Cooper, as well as other doctors, for prescribing “gender transition” drugs to dozens of Texas children in violation of Texas law.

In 2023, the AMA passed a resolution to commit to working with legislators to oppose policies that curb access to these treatments or prioritize parental rights. The resolution also promised collaboration with other organizations to “educate the Federation of State Medical Boards about the importance of gender-affirming care.”

The group also enthusiastically supported Dr. Rachel Levine’s nomination as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Joe Biden. Levine, a male who identifies as a woman, is a proponent of all types of trans drugs and procedures for minors, and once talked about children going through the “wrong puberty.” 

Meanwhile, the gap between the American people and the medical establishment is continuing to widen. According to a recent New York Times and Ipsos poll, 71% of Americans believe children under the age of 18 should not be prescribed puberty blockers or hormones. 

Fortunately for them, medical professionals who disagree with their profession’s trade groups are speaking out, and forming organizations that call for evidence-based medicine.

One group, Do No Harm, has 16,000 members and is fighting to “curtail the unscientific and individually harmful practice of so-called ‘gender affirming care.’” The Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine, meanwhile, researches and questions trans procedures for minors and promotes non-invasive approaches for gender confusion, like psychotherapy. 

These groups have a strong ally in President Donald Trump, who ran on this issue, and gained massive support for opposing trans procedures for minors and protecting girls’ sports. During his second week in office, Trump signed an executive order stating the United States will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support gender transitions for children. 

Now, his administration is joining the fight. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. rescinded Biden-era guidance that promoted trans procedures for minors. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a memo in April that the Department of Justice would consider prosecuting doctors for mutilating children under the guise of “trans care.” 

And, as The Daily Wire exclusively reported, the Federal Trade Commission will hold a workshop in July on transgender surgeries, hormones, and puberty blockers.

An FTC memo said there’s reason to believe some doctors and medical providers are pushing these treatments on minors while “knowingly deceiving parents by exaggerating ‘benefits’ and downplaying…harmful side effects.”

Related: ‘MAHA’ Report On Chronic Disease Will Cause Major Shift In Healthcare, FDA Chief Predicts


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