A data leak last month gave a peek into the inner workings of the American College of Pediatrics, which is a very different group than what you might first assume.
The group formed in 2002 in protest of the American Academy of Pediatrics support for adoption by same-sex couples. The American College of Pediatricians has only lurched rightward from there, and is a leading voice in the push to deny gender-affirming care to transgender children. The College of Pediatricians has also advocated for conversion therapy to make queer kids straight. The Heritage Foundation loves them; the Southern Poverty Law Center classifies them as a hate group.
Mother Jones and Wired magazines both delved into the data breach, which revealed the American College of Pediatrics’ internal strategy to push evangelical Christian norms by talking young pregnant girls out of abortions, warning against providing emergency contraception to young people and discouraging parents from accepting their transgender children.
The May 2 Wired story by Dell Cameron and Dhruv Mehrotra, “An Anti-Trans Doctor Group Leaked 10,000 Confidential Files: A Google Drive left public on the American College of Pediatricians’ website exposed detailed financial records, sensitive member details, and more,” is here.
The May 17 Mother Jones piece, “A Massive Leak Spotlights the Extremism of an Anti-Trans Medical Group: How the tiny American College of Pediatricians helped turn fringe beliefs into government policy,” is here.
While the membership list for the American College of Pediatricians is officially a secret, the recent data leak spilled the names of 700 member pediatricians. Those names are thought to represent most, if not all, of the group’s roster.
Wired magazine’s piece includes an infographic about where those members are, and Little Rock ranks second on the list, with 11. San Antonio is first, with 13. Houston has 10, Dallas has seven, according to the data leak.
So, who are these Little Rock member pediatricians? It might not matter much for the standard immunizations, wellness checkups and other basics. But parents of gay or transgender children probably want to know what they’re getting into before making an appointment with a pediatrician who defends gay conversion therapy as harmless.
And parents looking for pediatricians who align with them ideologically might like to have this information, too. Luckily, Google has some leads.
The All For Kids Pediatric Clinic in Little Rock looks to have a few members, and they’re pretty good ones if conservative heteronormativity is your bag. A physician at All For Kids regularly makes the list of Arkansas Times readers’ favorites.
