'Abusive': Pediatrician group's support for trans therapies rebuked by state AGs

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FIRST ON FOX: A group of attorneys general across the country are demanding that the nation's leading pediatric organization rescind its support for transgender procedures – such as puberty blockers and surgeries – on children. 

Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador sent a letter Tuesday to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) accusing the organization of abandoning "its commitment to sound medical judgment." 

"That halt on what is fairly described as medical experimentation on children is long overdue – particularly since the majority of children initially diagnosed with gender dysphoria desist and 'grow out' of the condition by the time they are adolescents or adults," the letter reads. "It is abusive to treat a child with biologically altering drugs that have an unknown physiological trajectory and end point. It is also inhumane to endorse such experimentation without a confident safety profile, especially if more times than not, it proves to be medically unnecessary."

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Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador speaks outside the Supreme Court on April 24, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

"And yet, the AAP continues to authoritatively declare that puberty blockers are ‘reversible,’" the letter continued. "That claim is scientifically unsupported and contradicts what is medically known. And because that claim raises questions under most state consumer protection laws, it has the undersigned alarmed."

Last year, the AAP recommitted its pledge to support "gender-affirming care" and expanded its guidelines for pediatricians to "ensure young people get the reproductive and gender-affirming care they need and are seen, heard and valued as they are," AAP CEO Mark Del Monte said at the time.

AAP has published several reports on reaffirming transgender youth in their preferred gender identities. In January, the AAP published a report titled, "Prohibition of Gender-Affirming Care as a Form of Child Maltreatment: Reframing the Discussion," which claimed many bills aimed at restricting transgender treatments for children lead to poor mental health. 

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"Ultimately, the AAP’s statements and guidance affect how physicians practice medicine and treat children. Because providers rely on the AAP when they make treatment decisions, parents and their children are harmed by the AAP’s misleading and deceptive claim," the letter read. "When pediatricians are told by the AAP that treating children with puberty blockers is 'reversible,' that claim becomes part of the medical discussion and decision-making with parents and children."

Attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Utah signed the letter, as well as the president of the Arizona Senate and the speaker of the Arizona state House of Representatives. 

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"Children with gender dysphoria need and deserve love, support, and medical care rooted in biological reality," Attorney General Labrador said. (Adobe Stock)

"Children with gender dysphoria need and deserve love, support, and medical care rooted in biological reality," Labrador told Fox News Digital in a statement. "Parents should be able to trust that a doctor’s medical guidance isn’t just the latest talking point from a dangerous and discredited activist agenda."

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The letter comes as transgender surgeries for kids has become a cultural issue in the 2024 election. And according to unsealed documents published over the summer, health officials in the Biden administration successfully pressured the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) to omit the age limit in its guidelines for transgender surgical procedures for adolescents. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to AAP for comment.