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Catholic Medical Association (USA) vs. transgender people

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The Catholic Medical Association is an American anti-transgender trade group for healthcare professionals who are Catholic.

note: for the British organization with the same name, see Catholic Medical Association (UK)

Background

In 1932, the National Federation of Catholic Physicians’ Guilds was founded as a national umbrella organization for local guilds. That year, they founded the publication The Linacre Quarterly.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, it increasingly addressed emerging ethical questions involving advances in surgery, reproductive medicine, and end-of-life care. In 1966, the federation officially changed its name to the Catholic Medical Association.

The publication of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae in 1968 significantly influenced the association’s activities. During the 1970s and 1980s, the CMA became increasingly active in discussions surrounding abortion, contraception, sterilization, assisted reproduction, and bioethics.

During the 1990s and 2000s, the CMA broadened its educational mission by sponsoring conferences, issuing position statements, and collaborating with Catholic hospitals, medical schools, and diocesan physicians’ guilds. It also increased advocacy on matters involving conscience protections for healthcare professionals, physician-assisted suicide, stem-cell research, and healthcare policy.

Since 2010, the CMA has continued to expand its membership and public engagement. It has issued statements on physician-assisted suicide, gender medicine, artificial reproductive technologies, and religious liberty in healthcare.

Resolutions

The CMA has published a number of resolutions regarding gender identity and expression, including:

  • 8-11 Resolution on Gender Neutral Public Spaces: BE IT RESOLVED, that the Catholic Medical Association, in recognition of the dignity of the person, supports the continuation of sex-specific facilities in all public and private places. (2016)
  • 8-12 Resolution on Transgender Treatments: BE IT RESOLVED, that the Catholic Medical Association does not support the use of any hormones, hormone blocking agents or surgery in all human persons for the treatment of Gender Dysphoria. (2016)
  • 8-13 Resolution on Gender Dysphoria: BE IT RESOLVED, that the Catholic Medical Association and its members reject all policies that condition all persons with gender dysphoria to accept as normal a life of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex; further, that the use of puberty blocking hormones and cross-sex hormones and surgical reassignment surgery be rejected. (2017)

Anti-trans activism

In 2016, CMA released a statement urging healthcare providers “to adhere to genetic science and sexual complementarity over ideology in the treatment of gender dysphoria (GD) in children. This includes especially avoiding puberty suppression and the use of cross-sex hormones in children with GD. One’s sex is not a social construct, but an unchangeable biological reality”

In August 2021, the American College of Pediatricians, the Catholic Medical Association, and Chattanooga-based obstetrician and
gynecologist Jeanie Dassow sued the Biden Administration, alleging that enforcing the Affordable Care Act’s nondiscrimination protections to require the plaintiffs to provide gender-affirming care or coverage for such care violates the Administrative Procedure Act, the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Tenth Amendment. They were represented by attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom.

At their September 2023 national conference, CMA’s Ethics Committee presented a position paper titled “The Ideology of Gender Harms Children.” The paper cites Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine, the Child & Parental Rights Campaign, American College of Pediatricians, American Society of Plastic Surgeons, and Independent Women’s Forum among others.

In 2024, CMA published a statement attacking WPATH, citing The WPATH Files piece by Environmental Progress. They also published talking points that promote anti-trans work by Kenneth Zucker, Susan Bradley, Devita Singh, Michael Laidlaw, Quentin Van Meter, Paul Hruz, Andre Van Mol, William Malone, the Cass Review, The WPATH Files, and Breitbart.

People

Board

  • Greg F. Burke
  • Mary Diana Dreger [sibling of Alice Dreger]
  • Robin J. Goldsmith
  • David J. Hilger
  • Alfonso Oliva
  • Michelle K. Stanford

Ex-Officio Advisors

  • James D. Conley
  • Mario R. Dickerson
  • Christopher Kubat

Directors

  • Paul R. Cieslak
  • Diane T. Gowski
  • Roy J. Heyne
  • Deacon Bruno Schettini
  • Jennifer Wright

Advisors

  • Thomas M. Carroll II
  • Frederick F. Fakharzadeh
  • Barbara Harty Golder
  • Marie T. Hilliard
  • Mary E. Keen-Kirchoff
  • Jack I. Lane
  • Timothy P. Millea
  • Peter T. Morrow
  • Anthony S. Oliva
  • Michael S. Parker
  • Thomas M. Pitre
  • Kathleen M. Raviele
  • Jonathan D. Scrafford
  • John Sullivan
  • Craig L. Treptow

Selected publications

Catholic Medical Association (September 4, 2024). Harms of transgender interventions: Talking points for oral and written testimony. https://www.cathmed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/CMA-Transgender-talking-points_FINAL.pdf

Press release (March 11, 2024). CMA Calls For a Return to Evidence-Based Medicine to Treat Gender Dysphoria. Catholic Medical Association https://www.cathmed.org/the-pulse/cma-calls-for-a-return-to-evidence-based-medicine-to-treat-gender-dysphoria/

Catholic Medical Association Ethics Committee (October 16, 2023). The Ideology of Gender Harms Children. https://www.cathmed.org/resources/the-ideology-of-gender-harms-children/

Press release (September 9, 2023). CMA Releases Position Paper on Gender Ideology and Its Harm to Children. Catholic Medical Association https://www.cathmed.org/resources/cma-releases-position-paper-on-gender-ideology-and-its-harm-to-children/

Parker, Michael S. (September 2021). Grand Rounds: CMA Sues Over Biden Transgender Mandate. Catholic Medical Association https://www.cathmed.org/grand-rounds-cma-sues-over-biden-transgender-mandate/

US District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee at Chattanooga (2021). American College of Pediatricians et al. v. Becerra et al. (Case No. 1:21-cv-00195). https://adfmedialegalfiles.blob.core.windows.net/files/AmericanCollegeOfPediatriciansComplaint.pdf [archive]

Blumenfield, Jill (February 2020). Deficiencies in Scientific Evidence for Medical Management of Gender Dysphoria. Catholic Medical Association https://www.cathmed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/LQ-Gender-Dysphoria-Press-Release.pdf

Press release (2016). Catholic Medical Association Opposes Pubertal Suppression in Minors for “Gender-Choosing” Purposes. Catholic Medical Association https://www.cathmed.org/assets/files/Gender_Dysphoria_Treatment_of_Minors.pdf

Resources

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Catholic Medical Association (cathmed.org)

Facebook (facebook.com)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)