Is Transgender Care for Children Based on Evidence?
Experts and readers debate the Endocrine Society’s guidelines for ‘gender-affirming care.’ Elliot Kaufman July 21, 2023 1:13 pm ET Charlie Riedel/Associated Press The Endocrine Society’s Dangerous Transgender Politicization | June 28 A federal court last week struck down an Arkansas law banning the provision of sex-change procedures—off-label “puberty blockers,” opposite-sex hormones and surgery—to minors. In the June 20 ruling, Judge James M. Moody Jr. repeatedly cited the Endocrine Society, the professional organization of physicians who specialize in hormones. Their guidelines are based on flimsy evidence, giving the appearance that invas
The Endocrine Society’s Dangerous Transgender Politicization | June 28
A federal court last week struck down an Arkansas law banning the provision of sex-change procedures—off-label “puberty blockers,” opposite-sex hormones and surgery—to minors.
In the June 20 ruling, Judge James M. Moody Jr. repeatedly cited the Endocrine Society, the professional organization of physicians who specialize in hormones. Their guidelines are based on flimsy evidence, giving the appearance that invasive and irreversible treatments are beneficial for young patients despite a growing body of evidence to the contrary.
By allowing ideologues to hijack their organization, endocrinologists are making themselves complicit in a scientifically baseless movement that inflicts serious harm on children’s physical and mental health.
Dr. Eappen is a practicing endocrinologist in Montreal and a senior fellow at Do No Harm. Mr. Kingsbury is Do No Harm’s research director.
Endocrine Society Responds on Gender-Affirming Care | July 4
Roy Eappen and Ian Kingsbury’s op-ed ignores scientific evidence and the conclusions reached by the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other reputable medical organizations. More than 2,000 studies published since 1975 form a clear picture: Gender-affirming care improves the well-being of transgender and gender-diverse people and reduces the risk of suicide.
Stephen R. Hammes, M.D.
President, Endocrine Society
Youth Gender Transition Is Pushed Without Evidence | July 13
Dr. Hammes’s claim that gender transition reduces suicides is contradicted by every systematic review, including the review published by the Endocrine Society, which states, “We could not draw any conclusions about death by suicide.” There is no reliable evidence to suggest that hormonal transition is an effective suicide-prevention measure.
This letter is signed by 21 clinicians and researchers from nine countries.
Oregon Rolls the Dice on Transgender Care | July 20
I was glad to see the letter signed by 21 clinicians and researchers from nine countries that rejected the Endocrine Society’s claim that “gender-affirming care improves the well-being of transgender and gender-diverse people and reduces the risk of suicide”
In Oregon, activist groups and Democratic lawmakers used that claim to pass a new state law—signed by Gov.
Tina Kotek right around when the letter was published—expanding access to these experimental, risky and sterilizing procedures.The new law requires Oregon taxpayers to foot the bill and federal taxpayers to fund the medical-claims audit process. Oregon doctors also can now treat adolescents 15 years and older without parental permission or even notification. What’s happening in Oregon is a national scandal worthy of further investigation.
Mary Miller
Independent Women’s Network
Bad Politics Begets Worse Medicine and Law | June 28
Even worse than “The Endocrine Society’s Dangerous Transgender Politicization” (op-ed by Roy Eappen and Ian Kingsbury, June 29) has been the American Academy of Pediatrics’s complicity in the provision of hormonal and surgical treatments designed to obstruct the normal development of physical secondary sex characteristics in adolescent and preadolescent children.
Donna L. Carlson, M.D.
Redlands, Calif.
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