Tipsheet

Medical Groups Press DOJ to Investigate Critics Opposed to Transgender Surgeries for Children

Madeline Leesman
Madeline Leesman  |  October 11, 2022 10:15 AM

The American Medical Association (AMA), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA) penned a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland urging him to launch investigations into critics of hospitals that are performing “gender-affirming” surgeries on minors. 

“From Boston to Akron to Nashville to Seattle, children's hospitals, academic health systems, and physicians are being targeted and threatened for providing evidence-based health care,” the letter said. “These attacks have not only made it difficult and dangerous for institutions and practices to provide this care, they have also disrupted many other services to families seeking care.”

"The attacks are rooted in an intentional campaign of disinformation, where a few high-profile users on social media share false and misleading information targeting individual physicians and hospitals, resulting in a rapid escalation of threats, harassment, and disruption of care across multiple jurisdictions. Our organizations have called on technology companies to do more to prevent this practice on digital platforms, and we now urge your office to take swift action to investigate and prosecute all organizations, individuals, and entities responsible," it continued.

The letter referenced a bomb threat that was made against Boston Children’s Hospital this year, which Townhall covered. The FBI had apprehended a suspect, Catherine Leavy of Westfield, Massachusetts, for the hoax threat which occurred after it was unveiled that the hospital was providing transgender surgeries on minors.

And, as Sarah covered, a psychologist employed with Boston Children’s Hospital claimed in a recent video that children can know their gender identity “from the womb.” 

In a video on its YouTube channel in August, the child psychologist, Dr. Kerry McGregor, claimed that “a good portion” of kids know “very, very early” about their gender identity and can express it once they learn how to talk.

McGregor added that the Harvard-affiliated hospital sees a “variety of young children, all the way down to ages 2 and 3 usually up to the ages of 9,” for “gender-affirming” care. 

Boston Children’s created the first pediatric center in the country dedicated for sex reassignment procedures, according to Fox News Digital.

Once the video gained circulation and backlash began rolling in, it was taken down. 

Last month, it was revealed that Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville was providing gender-affirming surgeries on children because it’s a “big money maker,” one of the clinic’s physicians said in a resurfaced video. As I covered, the center announced late last week that it will suspend these types of operations on children pending an internal review.

Matt Walsh, the conservative commentator who published the shocking report last month, pointed out that VUMC deleted its transgender services for minors from its website following his reporting.

In addition, VUMC published a statement claiming that Walsh’s reporting “misrepresented” facts about the clinic. However, Walsh's Twitter thread pulled straight from the clinic’s webpage and lectures from its physicians that were available on the internet. 

Several Republican lawmakers, including Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, chimed in. Lee called for a full-blown investigation of the clinic. Blackburn called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to investigate the effects of puberty blockers, one of the services provided to transgender children at VUMC.

Late last week, a letter from VUMC to Tennessee Rep. Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) said that the center would cease all transgender operations on kids as it reviews guidelines from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

Christopher Rufo pointed out this month how health care systems providing these kind of services to children become upset and defensive when journalists accurately report about the services they provide.

Rufo added that last year, the National School Board Association and Biden administration worked together to label parents concerned about their children's education as "domestic terrorists" and plan to go after them.