American College of Pediatricians

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.{{cite news|last=Pinto |first=Nick |title=University of Minnesota professor's research hijacked |url=http://www.citypages.com/news/university-of-minnesota-professors-research-hijacked-6725473 |access-date=November 17, 2010 |work=City Pages |date=May 26, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101117131203/http://www.citypages.com/2010-05-26/news/university-of-minnesota-professor-s-research-hijacked |archive-date=November 17, 2010 |url-status=dead}}{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Kranish|authorlink=Michael Kranish |title=Beliefs drive research agenda of new think tanks |url=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/07/31/beliefs_drive_research_agenda_of_new_think_tanks |work=The Boston Globe |date=July 31, 2005 |access-date=February 10, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060208125918/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/07/31/beliefs_drive_research_agenda_of_new_think_tanks/?page=full |archive-date=February 8, 2006 |url-status=dead}} In 2005, The Boston Globe noted that ACPeds was being used as a counterpoint to anything the AAP said, despite ACPeds being run by one employee at the time. Between 2013 and 2017, ACPeds distributed over 10,000 mailers to doctors as a recruitment strategy.

ACPeds has struggled to attract many 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.

In 2012, the SPLC estimated the ACPeds membership at "no more than 200". In 2016 ACPeds reported its membership at "over 500 physicians and other healthcare professionals",{{cite news |last=Beale |first=Stephen |title=Lawsuits Challenge Federal 'Transgender Mandate' |url=http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/lawsuits-challenge-federal-transgender-mandate |access-date=November 14, 2016 |work=NC Register |date=November 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114235328/http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/lawsuits-challenge-federal-transgender-mandate |archive-date=November 14, 2016 |url-status=live}} while leaked internal documents in 2023 identified approximately 1,200 current and former members with about 700 active. The ACPeds is currently led by its president, Quentin Van Meter.{{Cite web |url=https://acpeds.org/about/meet-our-board/president-quentin-van-meter-md |title=President|publisher=American College of Pediatricians |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221011180954/https://acpeds.org/about/meet-our-board/president-quentin-van-meter-md|archivedate=October 11, 2022}}

ACPeds strongly opposes abortion, calling it "a clear violation of the Hippocratic Oath."{{Cite web|website=American College of Pediatricians|title=Abortion Is Not Healthcare|url=https://acpeds.org/press/abortion-is-not-healthcare|access-date=October 12, 2024}} 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.

ACPeds strongly opposes gay marriage, gay adoption and gay parenting and has submitted several Amicus Briefs opposing them.{{Cite web|website=American College of Pediatricians|title=Same-Sex Marriage: Not Best for Children|url=https://acpeds.org/topics/marriage-and-family-matters/same-sex-marriage|access-date=September 10, 2024}}{{Cite web|website=American College of Pediatricians|title=Defending Traditional Marriage|url=https://acpeds.org/position-statements/defending-traditional-marriage|access-date=September 10, 2024}}{{Cite web|website=American College of Pediatricians|title=Homosexual Parenting: A Scientific Analysis|url=https://acpeds.org/position-statements/homosexual-parenting-a-scientific-analysis|access-date=September 10, 2024}} They also support conversion therapy for gay youth and have linked homosexuality to pedophilia.{{Cite web|website=American College of Pediatricians|title=Psychotherapy for Unwanted Homosexual Attraction Among Youth|url=https://acpeds.org/position-statements/psychotherapy-for-unwanted-homosexual-attraction-among-youth|access-date=September 10, 2024}}

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.{{cite web|url=http://protomag.com/articles/crossing-over|title=Crossing Over|date=June 10, 2016|publisher=Massachusetts General Hospital|access-date=November 23, 2016|magazine=Proto Magazine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025181335/http://protomag.com/articles/crossing-over|archive-date=October 25, 2016|url-status=live}}{{cite journal |title=Coparent or second-parent adoption by same-sex parents |journal=Pediatrics |volume=109 |issue=2 |pages=339–40 |date=February 2002 |pmid=11826219 | author1=Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child Family Health |doi=10.1542/peds.109.2.339 |doi-access=free}}{{cite journal |title=Policy Statement—AAP publications retired and reaffirmed |journal=Pediatrics |volume=124 |issue=2 |pages=845 |date=August 2009 |pmid=19651598 |doi=10.1542/peds.2009-1415 | doi-access=free |publisher=American Academy of Pediatrics |last1=American Academy Of |first1=Pediatrics }}

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".

ACPeds has also strongly opposed gender-affirming medical care for transgender people.{{Cite web|last=American College of Pediatricians|date=July 16, 2019|title=Letter to the Surgeon General|url=https://acpeds.org/assets/imported/7.16.19-Surgeon-General-letter1963-v4.pdf}}

ACPeds opposes online pornography (Primary Author: L David Perry, MD, FCP, October 2015, Updated August 2024).{{Cite web |date=2025-01-03 |title=The Impact of Pornography on Children |url=https://acpeds.org/position-statements/the-impact-of-pornography-on-children |access-date=2025-01-13 |archive-date=January 3, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250103165754/https://acpeds.org/position-statements/the-impact-of-pornography-on-children |url-status=bot: unknown }}

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 National Center for Law & Policy, some of which have been designated as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center.{{cite web |title=CMA and ACPeds Challenge the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services |url=https://www.cathmed.org/the-pulse/cma-and-acpeds-challenge-the-u-s-department-of-health-and-human-services/ |publisher=Catholic Medical Association |access-date=October 12, 2024 |date=December 18, 2023 }}{{cite web |title=Doctors Protecting Children Declaration |url=https://doctorsprotectingchildren.org/ |publisher=American College of Pediatricians |access-date=October 12, 2024 }}{{Cite web |title=Hate Map |url=https://www.splcenter.org/hate-map |access-date=2024-06-05 |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Anti-LGBTQ |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/anti-lgbtq |access-date=2024-06-05 |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |language=en}}

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. 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.{{cite web |title=Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation and Youth |url=http://www.aap.org/featured/sexualorientation.htm |publisher=American Academy of Pediatrics |access-date=December 14, 2010 |date=April 13, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101119095249/http://aap.org/featured/sexualorientation.htm |archive-date=November 19, 2010 |url-status=dead}}

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."{{Cite news |url=http://www.okgazette.com/article/06-23-2010/Doctors_debate_the_facts_surrounding_sexual_orientation_and_gender_confusion.aspx |title=Doctors debate the facts surrounding sexual orientation and gender confusion |first=Greg |last=Horton |date=June 23, 2010 |access-date=November 17, 2010 |work=Oklahoma Gazette |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219183046/http://okgazette.com/article/06-23-2010/Doctors_debate_the_facts_surrounding_sexual_orientation_and_gender_confusion.aspx |archive-date=December 19, 2014 |url-status=dead}}

In 2023, the American College of Pediatricians was a plaintiff in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, which sought to overturn the FDA's approval of mifepristone as an abortion drug.{{cite news |date=June 15, 2023 |author1= Lauren Weber |author2=Caitlin Gilbert |author3=Taylor Lorenz |title=Documents show how conservative doctors influenced abortion, trans rights |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/06/15/abortion-transgender-christian-doctors/}} 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.

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.

{{cite web |date=June 28, 2024 |title=American College of Pediatricians et al v Becerra et al |url=https://litigationtracker.law.georgetown.edu/litigation/american-college-of-pediatricians-et-al-v-becerra-et-al-2/}}

Some scientists have voiced concerns that ACPeds mischaracterized or misused their work to advance its political agenda.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nih.gov/about/director/04152010_statement_ACP.htm |title=Response to the American College of Pediatricians |date=April 16, 2010 |access-date=July 20, 2011 |first=Francis |last=Collins |author-link=Francis Collins |publisher=National Institutes of Health |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727115017/http://www.nih.gov/about/director/04152010_statement_ACP.htm |archive-date=July 27, 2011 |url-status=dead}} 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. 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."

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". 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".{{cite web |title=Anti-Equality Organizations |publisher=PFLAG |url=http://community.pflag.org/Page.aspx?pid=504 |access-date=November 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101229090937/http://community.pflag.org/Page.aspx?pid=504 |archive-date=December 29, 2010 |url-status=dead}}

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".{{cite web|title=Meet the Anti-LGBT Hate Group that Filed an Amicus Brief with the Alabama Supreme Court|url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2015/11/13/meet-anti-lgbt-hate-group-filed-amicus-brief-alabama-supreme-court|publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center|access-date=May 20, 2016|date=November 13, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405033113/https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2015/11/13/meet-anti-lgbt-hate-group-filed-amicus-brief-alabama-supreme-court|archive-date=April 5, 2016|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2012/american-college-pediatricians-defames-gays-and-lesbians-name-protecting-children |title=American College of Pediatricians Defames Gays and Lesbians in the Name of Protecting Children |date=March 1, 2012 |access-date=July 20, 2011 |first=Ryan |last=Lenz |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919172606/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2012/american-college-pediatricians-defames-gays-and-lesbians-name-protecting-children |archive-date=September 19, 2015 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |last1=Oatman |first1=Maddie |title=Dr. Jen Gunter wants to protect your vagina from Gwyneth Paltrow |url=https://www.motherjones.com/media/2019/08/wellness-goop-jen-gunter/ |website=Mother Jones |access-date=November 21, 2019}} 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.

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".{{cite web|url=https://www.aclu.org/blog/speakeasy/does-focus-family-speak-your-family|title=Does Focus on the Family Speak for Your Family?|publisher=American Civil Liberties Union|date=September 2010 |access-date=May 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405033437/https://www.aclu.org/blog/speakeasy/does-focus-family-speak-your-family|archive-date=April 5, 2016|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.aclu.org/re-gill-about-american-college-pediatricians|title=In re: Gill - About the American College of Pediatricians|publisher=American Civil Liberties Union|access-date=May 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527103958/https://www.aclu.org/re-gill-about-american-college-pediatricians|archive-date=May 27, 2016|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.aclu.org/blog/speakeasy/misinformation-doctorsout-hurt-students |title=Misinformation from Doctors… Out to Hurt Students? |date=June 24, 2010 |first=Theara |last=Coleman |publisher=American Civil Liberties Union |access-date=March 25, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405062338/https://www.aclu.org/blog/speakeasy/misinformation-doctorsout-hurt-students |archive-date=April 5, 2016 |url-status=live}}

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.{{cite web |last1=Gorski |first1=David|author-link1=David Gorski|title=One more time: There's no evidence Gardasil causes premature ovarian failure |url=https://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2016/03/01/one-more-time-theres-no-evidence-gardasil-causes-premature-ovarian-failure |website=ScienceBlogs |access-date=August 18, 2019}}

• American Pediatric Society
• Academic Pediatric Association

{{reflist}}

• {{official website|http://www.acpeds.org/}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:American College Of Pediatricians}}

Category:Anti-abortion organizations in the United States

Category:Conservative organizations in the United States

Category:Organizations that oppose LGBTQ rights in the United States

Category:Organizations that oppose transgender rights