Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has joined a 20-state coalition to put the American Academy of Pediatrics on notice for possible violations of state consumer protection statutes over its evidence free standards on gender dysphoria care for minors.
The group of AGs say confirmation by the Cass Report as well as recent disclosures by WPATH show AAP’s guidance is based more on political pressure and agendas rather than medical efficacy and sound medical judgement.
In a letter to the AAP leadership, the AGs request information detailing the AAP’s evidence for its ongoing recommendations for puberty blockers for gender dysphoria-diagnosed youth despite widespread retractions of the practice.
The coalition says it also is concerned by AAP claims that the use of puberty blockers on children is safe and reversible. They say this assertion is not grounded in evidence and therefore may run afoul of consumer protection laws in most states.
“Child mutilation is barbaric – it’s against Louisiana law, science, and common sense,” Murrill said in a press release. “It is abusive to experiment on a child with biologically altering drugs that have an unknown physiological trajectory and end point. Pediatricians should protect children from this abuse, not commit them to a lifetime of it. Glad to join my colleagues in protecting our kids.”
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador is leading the effort.
“It is shameful the most basic tenet of medicine – do no harm – has been abandoned by professional associations when politically pressured,” Labrador said in a press release. “These organizations are sacrificing the health and well-being of children with medically unproven treatments that leave a wake of permanent damage.
“Children with gender dysphoria need and deserve love, support, and medical care rooted in biological reality. 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.”
The AGs further explained the matter in the letter to the AAP.
“When used to suppress hormones below normal ranges during or before puberty, puberty blockers: (1) may interfere with neurocognitive development; (2) compromise bone density and may negatively affect metabolic health and weight; and (3) block normal pubertal experience and experimentation,” they wrote in the letter. “And when puberty blocker use is followed directly by cross-sex hormone use, which is often the case, infertility and sterility is a known consequence, at least for those who began puberty blockers in early puberty.”
The AGs go on to say this harm is particularly egregious because 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 AG letter requests detailed information from the AAP regarding its communications and practices related to youth gender dysphoria and substantiation of the Academy’s claims regarding the safety and reversibility of puberty blockers.
In addition to Louisiana, other states joining Idaho in the letter were the AGs from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virgina and West Virginia as well as the Arizona Legislature.