The harms being caused by transsexual medical ‘treatments’ are “nothing less than institutionalized child abuse”, according to a top paediatrician.
Michelle Cretella, President of the American College of Pediatricians, says that the ‘transition-affirming’ approach to treating children with gender dysphoria is both unscientific and unsafe.
She said that in spite of this, medical organisations are ignoring the facts and are instead conducting “massive, uncontrolled, and unconsented experimentation” on children.
‘Psychological damage’
Cretella, who has more than 20 years of experience as a paediatrician and researcher, said the current approach to treating transsexual children needs to change.
She said: “Today’s institutions that promote transition affirmation are pushing children to impersonate the opposite sex, sending many of them down the path of puberty blockers, sterilization, the removal of healthy body parts, and untold psychological damage.”
She also added that sound ethics demanded an “immediate end” to the use of puberty blockers, hormones, and sex reassignment surgeries in children and adolescents.
Lawmakers and schools’ bodies should also cease the promotion of gender ideology, she added.
No basis in science
In her article for American news outlet The Daily Signal, Cretella outlined some of the main scientific facts which are ignored by those wishing to promote the transsexual affirmation approach.
Firstly, she said it has been proven that “’innate gender identity’ – the idea that ‘feminized’ or ‘masculinized’ brains can be trapped in the wrong body from before birth – is a myth that has no basis in science”.
She continues by saying that 75 to 95 per cent of children who were gender dysphoric eventually outgrow that distress, and so should not be given puberty blocking or cross-sex hormones.
Suicide
Cretella also said there is no evidence which links lack of affirmation to suicide among LGBT individuals.
She added that this was contrary to the claims of activists who say that those who do not endorse the affirmation approach are pushing gender dysphoric children to suicide.
The affirmation approach does not prevent suicide either, she said, as adults who undergo sex reassignment have a much higher suicide rate than that of the general population.
‘Grave injustice’
She concluded by saying, “while the transition-affirming movement purports to help children, it is inflicting a grave injustice on them”.
“It is time for our nation’s leaders and the silent majority of health professionals to learn exactly what is happening to our children, and unite to take action”, she added.