An extreme level of criticism was leveled against the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) for its apparent choice to refuse to acknowledge that the soaring number of kids stating that they are transgender is just due to social contagion and pressure, with Moira Szilagyi, the AAP’s president, announcing a weak rebuttal, insisting, “The AAP is committed to following the evidence and basing our recommendations on the best science.”
As part of a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, Manhattan Institute fellow Leor Sapir and pediatrician Julia Mason spoke about a study in Pediatrics, which is the American Academy of Pediatrics’ flagship journal, that was used to buttress the claim that the uptick in transgender identity was not caused by any sort of social contagion.
Sapir and Mason put forth their own evidence as to just why the study, which was carried out by Dr. Jack Turban and his colleagues, was outright flawed, going on to state, “Pediatrics published his highly flawed 2020 study alleging that puberty blockers reduce suicide in teens. The journal even chose the article as its ‘Best of 2020’ despite receiving rebuttals that pointed out the rate of attempted suicide was twice as high among the puberty-blocked group and Dr. Turban hadn’t controlled for the possibility that better mental-health outcomes might be the result of factors other than hormonal intervention.”
The pair cited an event last year in which the AAP voted down a resolution to officially inform the 67,000 members of the academy about the rising global skepticism surrounding pediatric gender transition, issuing the claim that just 57 of the total 67,000 has chosen to endorse it and thus saw it be “soundly defeated,” but the following year, when only 53 people backed that particular resolution that went along with affirmative intervention, the AAP permitted it to pass through, making the claim that it would get “broad support.”
Sapir and Mason stated of the AAOP, “Its preference for fashionable political positions over evidence-based medicine is a disservice to member physicians, parents and children.”
Szilagyi concluded, “… the anti-trans bills in state legislatures, the social-media attacks and the rise in misinformation has an impact. The ones who suffer are the young people who are trying only to live their lives as their true selves. The AAP will continue to stand up for all children and adolescents, including those who are transgender.”