BOISE, Idaho – Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador’s political campaign against the existence of transgender people continued Friday with the announcement that he is investigating the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
Labrador’s open letter to the AAP argued that pediatricians should not be allowed to advise parents to prescribe their children gender-affirming care, which in rare circumstances can include puberty-blockers.
Puberty-blockers are regarded as safe and effective healthcare for transgender youth by the American Medical Association (AMA) and American Psychological Association (APA). Labrador asserted that his office was more qualified to offer an assessment of the efficacy of gender-affirming care.
“The advice from the AAP is based more on political pressure and activist agendas than actual medical science,” Labrador’s letter claimed.
While puberty blockers are considered safe and reversible by the Mayo Clinic in addition to the AMA and APA, Labrador called the treatments dangerous and compared them to lobotomies without citing a medical source, demanding the AAP send him any communications between the academy and the Biden Administration.
“Communications to and from Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Rachel Levine or her staff have been specifically included in our request,” Labrador said.
Dr. Levine is the only prominent transgender official in the Biden Administration. It is unclear why Labrador would specifically request communications from her rather than Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra.
Gender affirming care after Labrador successfully argued for the constitutionality of a 2023 healthcare ban before the US Supreme Court. A separate law banning the use of any public medical funds for gender affirming care, even for adults,
Labrador is also in the midst of a lawsuit
Given that gender affirming care is already illegal across the Gem State, Labrador’s investigation into the AAP is unlikely to impact healthcare in his state, but could have an impact on LGBTQ+ communities across the country depending upon Labrador’s ability to place legal and political pressure on pediatricians who work with queer youth.
