Last month, I wrote a piece entitled, 'what is wrong with the American Academy of Pediatrics?' I cited a number of pieces of evidence demonstrating how this medical association has been compromised and captured by far-left ideology and partisan politics. Those examples included their madness on mandatory masking of toddlers during COVID, engaging in revolting pro-Hamas propaganda (spearheaded by a conspiratorial anti-Semite who holds a DEI position within the group's structure), and embracing radical medical experimentation on minors, in the name of extreme gender ideology. One potential mitigating factor I found in my research was the AAP's seemingly sensible guidance in favor of re-opening schools, relatively early on in the pandemic (2020).
But even that relatively positive note was also promptly spoiled by hardcore partisanship. Having gotten it right initially, AAP hastily reversed its stance because -- gasp -- Donald Trump agreed with them and highlighted their position. And they couldn't have that. This is what hyper-politicized, and therefore dangerous, medical pseudo-'science' looks like:
The AAP didn't just reverse course, they announced their new guidance in a literal joint statement with the teacher's unions!
— Kelley K (@KelleyKga) March 17, 2025
Yes, the American Academy of Pediatrics flip-flopped on school re-openings because Bad Orange Man agreed with their original view. In case their partisanship wasn't clear enough, they announced their brand new, anti-evidence, anti-science reversal in a disgraceful joint statement two major teachers unions, including Randi Weingarten's:
For it is the AAP that is guilty of allowing politics to supersede scientific fact; this was clear in its handling of school closures and masking during the Covid pandemic. The AAP initially strongly supported a return of students to in-person schooling for the fall of 2020, but when Trump voiced his own support for the same thing and cited the AAP’s recommendations, the organization reversed itself. Two weeks later, it issued a second statement, now co-signed by the nation’s two largest teachers’ unions, that said reopening “safely” would require the government to spend more money, “Public health agencies must make recommendations based on evidence, not politics,” it declared. This was despite the fact that all evidence at the time pointed to the safety of children returning to in-person school. Going against the recommendations of every other international health organization, the AAP declared (without evidence) that children as young as two should wear masks.
From that same piece, it's astonishing how aggressive AAP has been in promoting a dog's breakfast of leftism, dressed up as "medical science:"
At the same time, the organization began uncritically embracing political positions popular on the left, calling for “the strongest possible regulations of handguns for civilian use,” for example, and going all-in on diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. The AAP’s “sample language for office forms,” for example, lists nine possible gender identities, eight possible sexual orientations, and asks, “What sex were you assigned at birth?” The guidance insists that pediatricians announce their pronouns to patients and ask about children’s gender identity during every visit, while also “degenderizing” their own language by using phrases such as “as a person who has a uterus” rather than “as a woman.” The AAP also supports policies that allow biological males to play on female sports teams, and its recommendations have been cited in lawsuits brought by trans activists against states that have banned boys in girls’ sports.
They pursue a political agenda, not science. National Review highlights a medical journal essay that notes how AAP leads with politically-desired outcomes, then proceeds from there:
The contrast between US and European physicians is clear in their policy statements. The lead author of the 2018 policy statement of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Jason Rafferty, has explained that children themselves should judge whether treatment should be given. “[T]he child’s sense of reality and feeling of who they are is the navigational beacon to sort of orient treatment around,” he said. By contrast, Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare concluded that “the risks of puberty blockers and gender-affirming treatment are likely to outweigh the expected benefits of these treatments.” The board recommends that children with gender dysphoria be carefully evaluated and compassionately treated but that hormonal interventions be limited to “the context of research” or “exceptional cases” only...The lack of good data, especially in the US, reflects deep professional inertia. For example, in 2023, the AAP announced it would conduct a systematic review of the evidence on which its 2018 policy statement was based. That review should have been done before the statement was issued, not after.
Now, it is too little, too late. Vulnerable patients, their families, and their physicians deserve better. Given this state of knowledge, it is ethically problematic to view the routine use of hormonal or surgical interventions in youth with gender dysphoria as evidence-based. We need high-quality studies to better understand the risks and benefits of various interventions. In the meantime, pediatricians should inform parents of disagreements within the field. Parents need to know how current practices in the US diverge from those in Europe. They need to know that systematic reviews of the clinical research find many flaws. Clinicians should also be aware that the Endocrine Society and WPATH guidelines as well as the AAP’s policy statement differ substantially from the approach adopted in the UK and a growing number of European countries.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is not to be trusted. Indeed, it has provided ample reason for it to be actively distrusted. Wokeism should have no place in the medical field, where decisions are often quite literally matters of life and death. Those who purport to speak for the medical community, while in the thrall of blinding political ideology, should be called out as the dangers to patients' wellbeing that they are. On that score, I'll leave you with this:
Cleveland Clinic has been dubbed “the wokest hospital in America”
— Ken Blackwell (@kenblackwell) March 17, 2025
But who is funding their “LGBTQ+ exclusive clinics,” minority-only programs, green goals, and efforts to embed DEI into “everything they do?”
With the opaque 340B program, it might be patients like you and me. pic.twitter.com/WKMRXXms71
