WoLF is partnering with Our Duty, a group of parents and their supporters who know the harms of medicalizing young people who claim to have “gender identities.”

In 2018, The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) adopted the “affirmative care model” based on a paper that was not peer-reviewed and full of numerous falsehoods.

• It has been used to justify the removal of healthy breasts of girls as young as 13, the testicles of boys as young as 16. 
• It supports placing children on puberty blockers with drugs that are not FDA-approved.
• It permits doctors to ignore companion mental health issues and fast-track them to medicalization without addressing underlying causes. 
• It ignores studies that find that prepubescent children outgrow their belief that they have a gender identity.

In October of 2022, the UK’s National Health Service replaced their “affirmative model” with new specifications. The new model:

• Utilizes a comprehensive mental health assessment led by a team of pediatric, autism, neurodiversity, and mental health experts. 
• Discourages social transition in prepubertal children and notes that evidence demonstrates that in most cases, gender incongruence resolves with puberty. 
• Makes clear that biological sex takes precedence. 

In partnership with Our Duty, WoLF urges the American Academy of Pediatrics to conduct an independent, systematic review of the science and adopt evidence-based protocols as done in the UK, Sweden, and Finland.

No more children should suffer and experience horrific regret. WoLF members and supporters oppose the medicalization of children; we are especially concerned about how gender ideology harms female children and adolescents. Recently, WoLF submitted an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court to fight the newest LGB conversion therapy, "gender affirmation," and testified in support of “Help Not Harm” bills in Missouri and Montana. 

Learn More About Safeguarding Children & Youth→

You can also share your story by emailing [email protected] and [email protected]. With your permission, your story will be shared as a WoLF Letter From the Front. You can learn more about our Letter From the Front initiative here.