FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 31, 2021

Help Not Harm: A National Child Safety Campaign

New campaign aims to protect children from dangerous transgender interventions

Colorado Springs, CO – Today, Family Policy Alliance launched its nationwide “Help Not Harm” campaign. The project aims to multiply the number of states that legally protect children from the damage of transgender interventions. Currently, only two states have such protections.

Parents and lawmakers who visit the Help Not Harm website will find information about the detrimental effects of “transition.” “Transition” can include puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and even mutilating surgeries.  The site also includes answers to common questions about gender dysphoria, transition, and meaningful ways to help struggling children. These answers were reviewed by experts at the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA).

But these educational resources are only the beginning, says Family Policy Alliance’s Meridian Baldacci.

“This year, Arkansas became the first state to protect children from dangerous transgender interventions,” says Baldacci. “This groundbreaking move set a new standard in child safety laws, and it’s high time for the rest of the nation to measure up. Every day, youth around the country are endangered by transgender interventions that can leave them sterile, missing healthy body parts, and filled with regret. Kids who are hurting and struggling need help, not harm, and that’s why we’re on a mission to help more leaders step up and protect children.”

The Help Not Harm webpage invites visitors to sign a petition asking lawmakers nationwide to protect children. A line in the petition reads, “Minors should not be sterilized, mutilated, and left to deal with the regret that may follow. I stand with Americans across the country who believe that children deserve Help Not Harm, and I call on lawmakers to join the fight!”

Meanwhile, Family Policy Alliance and its allies around the country are working to advance public policy in alignment with these goals – and push back against policy that will continue to put children in harm’s way.

At a time when children who exhibit gender dysphoria often are automatically pushed into gender transition, Help Not Harm counters this harmful narrative in a powerful way.

Autumn Leva, Vice President of Strategy at Family Policy Alliance, articulated it this way:

“For far too long children who have legitimate gender conflict have been pressured into transition by politicized medicine.

“But the data shows that the vast majority of children who experience gender dysphoria do reconcile with their birth sex when they are not pressured to begin ‘transition’ procedures.

“A child who is not old enough to buy cough syrup over the counter or get a tattoo should not bear the weight of the decision to alter their body in ways that have the potential to be both permanent and harmful.

“Children who experience gender dysphoria should not be subjected to experimental treatment and harmful procedures being hawked by a political agenda. Help Not Harm is here to spare children a lifetime of regret resulting from politicized medicine and unsound advice.”

Family Policy Alliance plans to provide more opportunities for action, as well as educational information and events, in the coming months. The first of these events, “The Truth About Transition,” will take place on September 14 at 1 PM ET. During the free event, Americans will have the opportunity to hear from a medical professional as he shares fact-based answers to common questions about gender dysphoria and “transition.” The event aims to equip people with the facts, so they can in turn speak out, protect their own families, and be prepared with winsome answers to the most critical questions facing our society. Those interested can sign up here.

Statements from supporting organizations and allies:

“We should never grow weary of protecting children. I’m proud of Arkansas legislators who were not afraid to stand up to the political mob and put kids first. Now, it’s time for other states to do the same. I’m so thankful for the partnership of Family Policy Alliance in this effort and I fully endorse the Help Not Harm campaign. We must work together to pass legislation like the SAFE Act across the country so that children in every state are protected from chemical and surgical castration.” – Arkansas State Representative Robin Lundstrum (Lead House Sponsor of the Arkansas SAFE Act)

“CMDA supports Family Policy Alliance’s ‘Help Not Harm’ legislative goals. As healthcare professionals, we have concerns about the long-term damage of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and the removal of healthy body parts, as these options are not proven to alleviate distress in those struggling to identify with their biological sex. We hope more states will seek to protect children from being permanently impacted by these harmful procedures and interventions which are unfortunately becoming more common in many states.” –Jeff Barrows, DO, MA (Ethics), (Senior Vice President of Bioethics and Public Policy, Christian Medical & Dental Associations)

“It is profoundly unethical to interfere in the normal physical development of a child as part of a process ‘affirming’ a ‘gender identity’ at odds with bodily sex. Children deserve help, not harm, in embracing reality, including the reality of their body. Prudent legislation is needed to protect children from the many harms of experimental ‘gender’ therapies.” – Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D. (President, Ethics & Public Policy Center)

“The Help not Harm Campaign is one whose time has come. Shamefully, American pediatric policy on transgender belief in youth stands in stark contrast to the international standard of care. Pediatric policy in the UK, Sweden and Finland, for example, is based on the principle of ‘First do no harm’. They prioritize the psychological exploration and treatment of underlying causes for transgender belief in youth. This standard not only resolves gender dysphoria in youth, but also averts the irreparable damage wrought by the life-altering chemical and surgical interventions promoted to American kids as young as age 8 .” –Michelle Cretella, M.D. (Executive Director, American College of Pediatricians)

“There was a time not so long ago when all medical practitioners agreed that biological reality should trump ideology and that healthcare should follow science and data, not politics. Unfortunately, many in the medical community today have fallen captive to the mistaken idea, pushed by left-wing activists, that a person’s sex is determined by their mind, not their body, and they have now begun to push this idea onto children, prescribing them highly experimental drugs with dangerous, long-term side effects and putting them on an irreversible, life-altering path which they are too young to fully comprehend. This is a frightening trend which must be opposed.

“Thankfully, states like Arkansas and Tennessee have begun to act, passing laws like the SAFE Act which would ban these hazardous and unproven interventions on children. But more states must follow suit. That’s why we are proud to stand with Family Policy Alliance in advocating for these protections of vulnerable children. We must ensure that the medical community is held accountable to its most important standard: to help, not harm.” – Terry Schilling (President, American Principles Project)

“A child who rejects his or her body is sending up a distress flare, asking for help. Medical ‘gender transitions’ not only don’t help, they harm the child’s healthy body but fail to resolve the child’s inner pain. The consequences are devastating. Let’s help, not harm these vulnerable children and adolescents.” – Mary Rice Hasson, JD (Person and Identity Project at Ethics & Public Policy Center)

“If children can’t be legally trusted to buy a beer, they also lack the maturity to consent to permanent infertility and removal of healthy organs. Children struggling to accept their bodies need compassion and help not further harm from adults.” – Roger Severino (HHS Accountability at Ethics & Public Policy Center)

State family policy councils that support the principles of the Help Not Harm campaign:

Media Contact:

Robert Noland, (719) 308-2822, Media@FamilyPolicyAlliance.com

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Family Policy Alliance works to advance biblical citizenship and promote good public policy that protects religious freedom, families, and life.