Ideology in Medical Schools Threatens Everyone’s Health
Urged on by a Colorado professor, students rally to defeat a resolution aimed at protecting girls.
By Travis J. Morrell, WSJ
July 26, 2024 5:31 pm ET
Beware the rising generation of physicians. In June, an army of medical students defeated my attempt to protect children from radical transgender ideology. My fellow physicians in the Colorado Medical Society overwhelmingly stood with me in defense of basic medical ethics and evidence, yet students from Colorado’s premier medical school overruled us. Americans should worry that when today’s trainees become tomorrow’s doctors, they’ll put political activism ahead of patient health.
I never expected to learn this lesson when I filed a resolution with the CMS in March. I did so based on the rapid rise of transgender medical interventions for children, both in Colorado and around the nation. I began my medical career in gynecology and know how transgender treatments can affect young people’s bodies. They can ruin healthy sexual function and damage reproductive ability, potentially leading to a lifetime of physical and mental ailments.
I built my resolution around the Colorado Medical Society’s existing policy on female genital mutilation. Passed in 1998 and reaffirmed in 2014, that policy opposes the practice, which is also a federal crime. Yet transgender surgeries often involve mutilation, which activists deem medically necessary. Earlier treatments, such as puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, are typically prescribed in preparation for mutilating surgeries on teenagers.
I wrote my resolution to reflect these facts. I noted that in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia, “female genital mutilation is performed by persons who believe they are doing good for the victim and their society,” even though they are objectively doing harm. And I further noted that while the “child may assent” in other societies, that doesn’t make such procedures right, either there or in the U.S.
Ultimately, I urged the Colorado Medical Society “to be consistently protective of girls, and to avoid cultural arrogance.” My resolution called on the society to broaden its definition of female genital mutilation to include transgender medical interventions. This would indicate the Colorado medical community’s opposition to these practices, given that the society formally condemns female genital mutilation as “a medically inappropriate procedure” and “a form of physical abuse.”
Having talked with physicians across the state, I believed my resolution had a strong chance of passing. I felt even more optimistic once the Cass Review, commissioned by England’s National Health Service, issued its final report in April. That report raised many of the same concerns, leading to widespread discussions among U.S. physicians about the morality and medical necessity of transgender treatments for children.
Under Colorado Medical Society rules, my resolution came before the general membership in mid-May. My fellow physicians were given four weeks to vote, and within days passage looked likely. After more than three weeks, more than 60% of participating physicians supported the resolution. But by June 12—the day before voting ended—the tide had dramatically turned, thanks to a sudden influx of votes by medical students.
At first, I didn’t understand why so many medical students chimed in, but a website called the Publica has since reported that Frank Merritt, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, emailed the student body shortly before the vote ended. “I don’t usually use this position for things like this,” Dr. Merritt’s email began. He then asked the medical students to vote against my resolution. He told the students that all of them are “automatically members of the Colorado Medical Society, though I imagine most of you have not registered accounts.” He provided instructions for registering and implored them to act fast as voting was closing soon.
The army of medical students swung into action. More than 150 voted against my resolution, with the final vote being about 75% opposed. Six medical students voted in favor—an act of bravery considering their names were made visible to other society members, including fellow students, during the voting process. Following the vote, on June 14, the Colorado Medical Society’s board formally rejected my resolution. It’s possible the board would have made the same move had the resolution passed, but it would have been much harder to justify.
My disappointment over defeat is matched only by my deep concern about who defeated my resolution—and what it says about the coming danger to patients nationwide. Medical schools like the University of Colorado’s have been overrun by ideologues. Not only did a faculty member feel comfortable pressuring students to engage on a divisive public issue, but the students responded by overwhelmingly siding with unproven, unethical and antiscientific medical interventions.
The ideological wave that has begun in medical school will inevitably define the medical profession. These students will soon see patients. Having been trained in an ideology, they are all but certain to bring it into the treatment room. You can equally bet they’ll become vocal advocates for divisive and discriminatory policies at the local, state and federal levels. They’ll lend an air of legitimacy to fundamentally illegitimate ideas, by virtue of the white coats they wear. Today, they’re ensuring the defeat of a common-sense resolution about protecting children. Tomorrow, they’ll bring about the decline of medicine itself.
Dr. Morrell, a physician, is a senior fellow at Do No Harm.
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