The American Medical Association seems to have taken a page out of the National School Board Association’s book. Remember the NSBA’s request that the Justice Department classify parents protesting at school board meetings as “domestic terrorists”? That’s similar to what the AMA hopes to do now, only this missive went to the DOJ and the targets are the journalists exposing questionable practices at hospitals and other facilities.
This is the latest in a series of moves designed to silence those taking issue with the movement to promote transgender ideology to children in America’s classrooms and elsewhere. But, as was the case with the dissipating National School Board Association, this effort is likely doomed to fail.
American Medical Association Goes Crying to Justice Department
The American Medical Association reportedly sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday asking him to “investigate the organizations, individuals, and entities coordinating, provoking, and carrying out bomb threats and threats of personal violence against children’s hospitals and physicians across the U.S.”
“The attacks are rooted in an intentional campaign of disinformation, where a few high-profile users on social media share false and misleading information targeting individual physicians and hospitals, resulting in a rapid escalation of threats, harassment, and disruption of care across multiple jurisdictions,” said the letter, which was also signed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA). “Our organizations have called on technology companies to do more to prevent this practice on digital platforms, and we now urge your office to take swift action to investigate and prosecute all organizations, individuals, and entities responsible.”
These groups also urged Big Tech platforms like TikTok, Twitter, and Meta to employ “safety and hateful conduct policies” to stop “coordinated campaigns of disinformation.”
The letter is a response to conservative journalists and media outlets reporting on medical facilities that promote “gender-affirming care” to minor children. This typically involves encouraging young folks to undergo medical and even surgical procedures ostensibly to help them transition to the opposite sex. These treatments can involve the use of a variety of questionable methods, including prescribing hormone-altering puberty blockers and even “top surgery.”
Right-leaning journalists have reported about various medical facilities promoting “gender-affirming care” to minors. These include institutions at Vanderbilt University, the University of Virginia, and the University of Wisconsin. In many cases, the websites of these hospitals featured videos explaining the different procedures they perform on children.
Will the Justice Department Agree?
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland (Photo by Carolyn Kaster-Pool/Getty Images)
So far, the Justice Department has not indicated whether it will acquiesce to the request. Attorney General Garland has already come under fire for colluding with the National School Board Association to target parents. Is he willing to risk getting the same blowback by investigating people looking into controversial medical treatments being performed on minors?
Even if Garland decides to pass, the fact that the American Medical Association, along with other organizations, would even consider trying to persuade a federal police agency to do their bidding by silencing and intimidating those opposed to their practices is chilling. This isn’t a matter of bomb threats; if that were the case, they would have focused only on those engaged in that criminal act.
This letter appears to be more about linking those speaking out against the transing of children to those who would threaten violence. Even if this strategy fails, it leaves a frightening question in its wake: If they are willing to push the FBI to target people criminally, what else might they have up their sleeve to scare opponents into being silent?