A group of doctors are calling on the leading medical professional organizations to “immediately stop the promotion of social affirmation, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries for children and adolescents who experience distress over their biological sex.”

The American College of Pediatrics has unveiled the “Doctors Protecting Children Declaration,” which has been signed by nearly 100 physicians, nurses, psychotherapists, other medical professionals, scientists, researchers and public health and policy professionals—as well as 18 medical organizations and 13 leaders from other fields. It is supported by nine organizations such as Family Research Council, Advocates Protecting Children and the Child and Parental Rights Campaign.

The declaration was announced at a press conference in the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on June 6.

“We are here defying the claims made by these medical organizations in the U.S. that those of us who are concerned are a minority, and that their protocols are consensus,” said Jill Simons, a pediatrician and executive director of the American College of Pediatricians. “They are not consensus, and we are speaking in a loud, unified voice, ‘Enough.’”

The declaration calls on “the medical professional organizations of the United States, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society, the Pediatric Endocrine Society, American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry” to stop pushing harmful gender-transition treatment, and instead to “recommend comprehensive evaluations and therapies aimed at identifying and addressing underlying psychological co-morbidities and neurodiversity that often predispose to and accompany gender dysphoria.”

It emphasizes that studies have shown, for most children who experience gender dysphoria, that gender confusion is solved after puberty. Additionally, the adolescent brain is not fully mature and is “limited in its ability to strategize, problem solve and make emotionally laden decisions that have life-long consequences.”

The declaration also cites the controversial record and basis of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), upon whose “Standards of Care” clinics in the U.S. base their treatments. Finally, the declaration cites the Cass Review from April of this year, a report commissioned by England’s National Health Service that revealed a lack of evidence for the safety and efficacy of transgender treatment for children.

“Despite recent revelations from the leaked WPATH files, and the recent release of the final report from the Cass review, these medical organizations have not changed course,” Simons said. She explained that the declaration holds fast to the biological differences between male and female, and that “[c]onsideration of these innate differences is critical to the practice of good medicine and to the development of sound policy for children and adults alike.

“Medical decision-making should be based upon an individual’s biological sex. It should respect biological reality and the dignity of the person by compassionately addressing the whole person.”

Nicole Hayes, director of state public policy with the Christian Medical and Dental Associations, said at the press conference, “We affirm the Biblical and biological understanding of humankind as having been created and distinctly made male and female.”