American College of Pediatricians

Last updated

American College of Pediatricians
Founded2002;22 years ago (2002)
FoundersGerry Boccarossa and Joseph Zanga
Type 501(c)(3)
47-0886878
Location
Members
slightly more than 700 [1]
Revenue (2022)
$178,000
Expenses (2022)$143,000
Website www.acpeds.org

The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) is a socially conservative advocacy group of pediatricians and other healthcare professionals in the United States, founded in 2002. [1] [2] The group advocates in favor of abstinence-only sex education and conversion therapy, and advocates against vaccine mandates, abortion rights and rights for LGBT people. [3] [1] [4] As of 2022, its membership has been reported at about 700 physicians. [5] [6] [1]

Contents

ACPeds has been listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for pushing "anti-LGBTQ junk science". [3] A number of mainstream researchers, including the director of the US National Institutes of Health, have accused ACPeds of misusing or mischaracterizing their work to advance their own political agenda. [7] [8] ACPeds has also been criticized for their professional sounding name which some have said is intended to mislead people into thinking they are a professional medical organization or mistake them for the similar sounding American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). [9]

Founding and membership

The group was founded in 2002 by a group of pediatricians, including Joseph Zanga, a past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), as a protest against the AAP's support for adoption by gay couples. [7] [5] In 2005, The Boston Globe noted that ACPeds was being used as a counterpoint to anything the AAP said despite it being run by one employee at the time. [5] Between 2013 and 2017, ACPeds distributed over 10,000 mailers to doctors as a recruitment strategy. [1]

ACPeds has struggled to attract members in the past, but in recent years has gained outsize political influence by "using conservative media as a megaphone in its quest to position [itself] as a reputable source of information." The group gained national attention in 2024 for being one of the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit, FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine , which sought to limit access to the abortion drug, mifepristone. [10]

In 2012, the SPLC estimated the ACPeds membership at "no more than 200". [11] In 2016 ACPeds reported its membership at "over 500 physicians and other healthcare professionals", [12] [6] while leaked internal documents in 2023 identified approximately 1,200 current and former members with about 700 active. [1] The ACPeds is currently led by its president, Quentin Van Meter. [13]

Positions

Abortion

ACPeds strongly opposes abortion, calling it "a clear violation of the Hippocratic Oath." [14] In 2023, ACPeds was a plaintiff in the federal lawsuit, FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine , which sought to limit access to the abortion drug, mifepristone. [10]

LGBTQ rights

ACPeds strongly opposes gay marriage, gay adoption and gay parenting and has submitted several Amicus Briefs opposing them. [15] [16] [17] They also support conversion therapy for gay youth and have linked homosexuality to pedophilia. [18] [9] [7] [5] [4]

The organization's view on the relevance of sexual orientation to parenting differs from the position of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which holds that there is no connection between orientation and the ability to be a good parent and to raise healthy and well-adjusted children. [6] [19] [20]

ACPeds has vehemently criticized the American Psychological Association as a "gay-affirming program" that "devalues self-restraint" and supports "a child's autonomy from the authority of both family and religion, and from the limits and norms these institutions place on children". [11] ACPeds has also strongly opposed gender-affirming medical care for transgender people. [21] [3] [1] [4]

Affiliations

The ACPeds has affiliated itself with other conservative medical and religious groups including the Catholic Medical Association (CMA), the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHM), the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC), the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), Christian Medical and Dental Associations (CMDA), the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC), the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, the Lutheran Church and the United Reformed Churches in North America; as well as with anti-LGBT organizations and anti-abortion organizations including Genspect, the Discovery Institute, the Family Research Council, Family Watch International, Focus on the Family, Moms for Liberty, Family Policy Alliance, Ethics and Public Policy Center, the American Family Association, Gays Against Groomers, Protect Our Kids and the The National Center for Law & Policy, some of which have been designated as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. [22] [23] [24] [25] [26]

Publications

In response to the publication by the American Academy of Pediatrics of Just the Facts, a handbook on teen sexual orientation aimed at a school audience, ACPeds issued its own publication, Facts About Youth, in March 2010. [7] Facts About Youth, along with a cover letter, was mailed to 14,800 school superintendents. Facts About Youth was challenged as not acknowledging "the scientific and medical evidence regarding sexual orientation, sexual identity, sexual health, or effective health education" by the American Academy of Pediatrics. [27]

The ACPeds letter to the superintendents primarily addressed same-sex attraction, and recommended that "well-intentioned but misinformed school personnel" who encourage students to "come out as gay" and affirm them as such may lead the students into "harmful homosexual behaviors that they otherwise would not pursue". The ACPeds letter to the superintendents also stated that gender dysphoria will typically disappear by puberty "if the behavior is not reinforced" and similarly alleged that "most students (over 85 percent) with same-sex attractions will ultimately adopt a heterosexual orientation if not otherwise encouraged." [28] [29]

Activities

In 2023, the American College of Pediatricians is a plaintiff in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA , which sought to overturn the FDA's approval of mifepristone as an abortion drug. [10] Leaked minutes from 2021 showed that the group has collaborated with religious groups in order to influence opinion leaders in courts, academic literature, and in state legislatures. Since 2021, representatives of ACPeds have lobbied several state legislatures in support of legislation to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youths, as part of a campaign that succeeded in passing such laws in several states. [10]

In December 2023, ACPeds teamed up with the Catholic Medical Association (CMA) in the case American College of Pediatricians, et al v. Becerra which challenges president Joe Biden's executive order that sought to reinterpret the word "sex" in federal laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity, particularly in the Affordable Care Act. [23] [22]

Reception

Some scientists have voiced concerns that ACPeds mischaracterized or misused their work to advance its political agenda. [7] [8] Gary Remafedi, a pediatrician at the University of Minnesota, wrote ACPeds a public letter accusing them of fundamentally mischaracterizing his research in their publications to argue that schools should deny support to gay teenagers. Francis Collins, a geneticist and director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), issued a statement through the NIH accusing the ACPeds of misleading children and parents on its Facts About Youth website. [8] Warren Throckmorton, a therapist who specializes in sexual orientation issues, similarly stated that his research had been misused, saying of ACPeds: "They say they're impartial and not motivated by political or religious concerns, but if you look at who they're affiliated with and how they're using the research, that's just obviously not true." [7]

In an amicus brief regarding the removal of a child from the foster home of a same-sex couple (Kutil and Hess v. West Virginia) the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) described ACPeds as a "small and marginal group" which was "out of step with the research-based position of the AAP and other medical and child welfare authorities". [6] The LGBT advocacy organization PFLAG categorizes the ACPeds as an anti-equality organization, describing the group as a "small splinter group of medical professionals who do not support the mainstream view of the American Academy of Pediatricians (AAP) that homosexuality is a normal aspect of human diversity". [30]

The American College of Pediatricians has been described by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as a "hate group", and a "fringe group" which closely collaborates with the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) with "a history of propagating damaging falsehoods about LGBT people, including linking homosexuality to pedophilia". [31] [11] [32] In response to being labeled a hate group by the SPLC, the ACPeds undertook a private campaign with its allies to attempt to discredit the SPLC and to lower its standing on Charity Navigator. [1]

In response to an ACPeds brief, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wrote that ACPeds is a fringe group that has acted to promote "unscientific and harmful 'reparative therapies' for LGBTQ students". [33] [34] [29]

Surgical oncologist David Gorski has said that statements from ACPeds have been used by quack sites like Natural News to push an anti-vaccine agenda. Gorski has said that organizations spreading misinformation regarding HPV vaccines have often cited ACPeds. [35]

See also

Related Research Articles

The Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity (ATCSI), which until 2014 was known as the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), also known as the NARTH Institute, is a US organization that promotes conversion therapy, a pseudoscientific practice used in attempts to change the sexual orientation of people with same-sex attraction. NARTH was founded in 1992 by Joseph Nicolosi, Benjamin Kaufman, and Charles Socarides. Its headquarters were in Encino, California, at its Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic. NARTH has not been recognized by any major United States–based professional association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homosexuality and psychology</span> Homosexuality as studied by the field of psychology

The field of psychology has extensively studied homosexuality as a human sexual orientation. The American Psychiatric Association listed homosexuality in the DSM-I in 1952 as a "sociopathic personality disturbance," but that classification came under scrutiny in research funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. That research and subsequent studies consistently failed to produce any empirical or scientific basis for regarding homosexuality as anything other than a natural and normal sexual orientation that is a healthy and positive expression of human sexuality. As a result of this scientific research, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the DSM-II in 1973. Upon a thorough review of the scientific data, the American Psychological Association followed in 1975 and also called on all mental health professionals to take the lead in "removing the stigma of mental illness that has long been associated" with homosexuality. In 1993, the National Association of Social Workers adopted the same position as the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association, in recognition of scientific evidence. The World Health Organization, which listed homosexuality in the ICD-9 in 1977, removed homosexuality from the ICD-10 which was endorsed by the 43rd World Health Assembly on 17 May 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Family Research Council</span> American evangelical activist group

The Family Research Council (FRC) is an American evangelical 501(c)(3) non-profit activist group and think-tank with an affiliated lobbying organization. FRC promotes what it considers to be family values. It opposes and lobbies against access to pornography, embryonic stem-cell research, abortion, divorce, and LGBT rights—such as anti-discrimination laws, same-sex marriage, same-sex civil unions, and LGBT adoption. The FRC has been criticized by media sources and professional organizations such as the American Sociological Association for using "anti-gay pseudoscience" to falsely conflate homosexuality and pedophilia, and to falsely claim that the children of same-sex parents suffer from more mental health problems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Family Association</span> American nonprofit organization promoting fundamentalist Christian values

The American Family Association (AFA) is a conservative and Christian fundamentalist 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States. It opposes LGBT rights and expression, pornography, and abortion. It also takes a position on a variety of other public policy goals. It was founded in 1977 by Donald Wildmon as the National Federation for Decency and is headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Traditional Values Coalition</span> American conservative Christian organization

The Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) was an American conservative Christian organization. It was founded in 1980 at Anaheim California by Rev. Louis P. Sheldon to oppose LGBT rights. Sheldon's daughter, Andrea Sheldon Lafferty, was initially the executive director and presently serves as president. TVC was influential in the 1980s and 1990s in lobbying for government policy based in Christian fundamentalism.

The Family Research Institute (FRI), originally known as the Institute for the Scientific Investigation of Sexuality (ISIS), is an American socially conservative non-profit organization based in Colorado Springs, Colorado which states that it has "...one overriding mission: to generate empirical research on issues that threaten the traditional family, particularly homosexuality, AIDS, sexual social policy, and drug abuse". The FRI is part of a sociopolitical movement of socially conservative Christian organizations which seek to influence the political debate in the United States. They seek "...to restore a world where marriage is upheld and honored, where children are nurtured and protected, and where homosexuality is not taught and accepted, but instead is discouraged and rejected at every level." The Boston Globe reported that the FRI's 2005 budget was less than $200,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mission: America</span>

Mission: America is an American Christian right organization based in Columbus, Ohio and founded in 1995 that seeks to "cover the latest cultural and social trends in our country and what they might mean for Christians." The organization publishes articles on its web site about its views on homosexuality and paganism. Mission: America's founder and president, Linda Harvey, is an outspoken critic of LGBT rights, including same-sex marriage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Courage International</span>

Courage International, also known as Courage Apostolate and Courage for short, is an approved apostolate of the Catholic Church that counsels "men and women with same-sex attractions in living chaste lives in fellowship, truth and love". Based on a treatment model for drug and alcohol addictions used in programs like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Courage runs a peer support program aimed at helping gay people remain abstinent from same-sex sexual activity.

Watchmen on the Walls is an international evangelical ministry based in Riga, Latvia. It describes itself as "the international Christian movement that unites Christian leaders, Christian and social organizations and aims to protect Christian morals and values in society." According to a Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) Intelligence report the group's name derives from the Old Testament book of Nehemiah, in which the "watchmen" guard the reconstruction of Jerusalem. "The cities they guard over today, say the contemporary Watchmen, are being destroyed by homosexuality."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of sexual orientation and medicine</span>

Timeline of events related to sexual orientation and medicine

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Center for Family and Human Rights</span> American nonprofit organization

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Peter LaBarbera is an American social conservative activist and the president of the anti-gay organization Americans for Truth about Homosexuality (AFTAH).

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illinois Family Institute</span> American Christian organization

The Illinois Family Institute (IFI) is a Christian organization based in Tinley Park, Illinois. Founded in 1990, its stated mission is "upholding and re-affirming marriage, family, life and liberty in Illinois", and it is affiliated with the American Family Association. The organization's legislative arm is the 501(c)(4) lobbying group Illinois Family Action, founded in 2010. The organization's executive director is David E. Smith, who in 2006, succeeded Peter LaBarbera, founder of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality.

Parents Action League (PAL) is a citizens organization started in 2010 to oppose changes in the Anoka-Hennepin (Minnesota) School District 11 policy which limited discussions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues in district classrooms. PAL's roots go back as far as 1994, when one of its most-vocal members, Barb Anderson, successfully influenced the school district's board to exclude homosexuality from its sex-ed curriculum.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine</span> Group opposing gender-affirming care

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Quentin L. Van Meter is a pediatric endocrinologist and president of the American College of Pediatricians, a socially conservative advocacy group which is known for opposing gay marriage, gender reassignment surgery, and abortion. He has advocated and referred his clients to conversion therapy and is known for rejecting the medical consensus on the efficacy and safety of transgender health care.

Miriam Grossman is an American psychiatrist and activist associated with anti-LGBT and conservative advocacy organizations. She is an opponent of gender affirming medical care for transgender people, and opposes sex education in schools, which she describes as a "marxist approach to human development".

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cameron, Dell; Mehrotra, Dhruv (May 2, 2023). "An Anti-Trans Doctor Group Leaked 10,000 Confidential Files". WIRED. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  2. ↑ Larsen, Allison Orr (2014). "The Trouble with Amicus Facts" (PDF). Virginia Law Review. 100 (8): 1762. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 26, 2015. Retrieved May 23, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 "American College of Pediatricians". Extremist Files. Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on July 31, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 Molloy, Parker (June 12, 2024). "The Bogus Anti-Trans "Declaration" From a Bogus Medical Organization". The New Republic . Retrieved August 24, 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Kranish, Michael (July 31, 2005). "Beliefs drive research agenda of new think tanks". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on February 8, 2006. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Crossing Over". Proto Magazine. Massachusetts General Hospital. June 10, 2016. Archived from the original on October 25, 2016. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pinto, Nick (May 26, 2010). "University of Minnesota professor's research hijacked". City Pages . Archived from the original on November 17, 2010. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
  8. 1 2 3 Collins, Francis (April 16, 2010). "Response to the American College of Pediatricians". National Institutes of Health. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved July 20, 2011.
  9. 1 2 "The American College of Pediatricians Is an Anti-LGBT Group". Psychology Today . May 8, 2017. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Lauren Weber; Caitlin Gilbert; Taylor Lorenz (June 15, 2023). "Documents show how conservative doctors influenced abortion, trans rights". The Washington Post .
  11. 1 2 3 Lenz, Ryan (March 1, 2012). "American College of Pediatricians Defames Gays and Lesbians in the Name of Protecting Children". Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on September 19, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2011.
  12. ↑ Beale, Stephen (November 11, 2016). "Lawsuits Challenge Federal 'Transgender Mandate'". NC Register. Archived from the original on November 14, 2016. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
  13. ↑ "President". American College of Pediatricians. Archived from the original on October 11, 2022.
  14. ↑ "Abortion Is Not Healthcare". American College of Pediatricians. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  15. ↑ "Same-Sex Marriage: Not Best for Children". American College of Pediatricians. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  16. ↑ "Defending Traditional Marriage". American College of Pediatricians. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  17. ↑ "Homosexual Parenting: A Scientific Analysis". American College of Pediatricians. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  18. ↑ "Psychotherapy for Unwanted Homosexual Attraction Among Youth". American College of Pediatricians. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  19. ↑ Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child Family Health (February 2002). "Coparent or second-parent adoption by same-sex parents". Pediatrics. 109 (2): 339–40. doi: 10.1542/peds.109.2.339 . PMID   11826219.
  20. ↑ American Academy Of, Pediatrics (August 2009). "Policy Statement—AAP publications retired and reaffirmed". Pediatrics. 124 (2). American Academy of Pediatrics: 845. doi: 10.1542/peds.2009-1415 . PMID   19651598.
  21. ↑ American College of Pediatricians (July 16, 2019). "Letter to the Surgeon General" (PDF).
  22. 1 2 "CMA and ACPeds Challenge the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services". Catholic Medical Association. December 18, 2023. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  23. 1 2 "American College of Pediatricians et al v Becerra et al". June 28, 2024.
  24. ↑ "Doctors Protecting Children Declaration". American College of Pediatricians. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  25. ↑ "Hate Map". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  26. ↑ "Anti-LGBTQ". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  27. ↑ "Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation and Youth". American Academy of Pediatrics. April 13, 2010. Archived from the original on November 19, 2010. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  28. ↑ Horton, Greg (June 23, 2010). "Doctors debate the facts surrounding sexual orientation and gender confusion". Oklahoma Gazette. Archived from the original on December 19, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
  29. 1 2 Coleman, Theara (June 24, 2010). "Misinformation from Doctors… Out to Hurt Students?". American Civil Liberties Union. Archived from the original on April 5, 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  30. ↑ "Anti-Equality Organizations". PFLAG. Archived from the original on December 29, 2010. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
  31. ↑ "Meet the Anti-LGBT Hate Group that Filed an Amicus Brief with the Alabama Supreme Court". Southern Poverty Law Center. November 13, 2015. Archived from the original on April 5, 2016. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
  32. ↑ Oatman, Maddie. "Dr. Jen Gunter wants to protect your vagina from Gwyneth Paltrow". Mother Jones. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  33. ↑ "Does Focus on the Family Speak for Your Family?". American Civil Liberties Union. September 2010. Archived from the original on April 5, 2016. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  34. ↑ "In re: Gill - About the American College of Pediatricians". American Civil Liberties Union. Archived from the original on May 27, 2016. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  35. ↑ Gorski, David. "One more time: There's no evidence Gardasil causes premature ovarian failure". ScienceBlogs. Retrieved August 18, 2019.
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