Controversy is brewing over a recently released policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) saying that it fully supports “families in all their diversity,” a position being criticized by other professional pediatric groups.
“Children may be born to, adopted by, or cared for temporarily by married couples, non-married couples, single parents, grandparents, or legal guardians, and any of these may be heterosexual, gay or lesbian, or of another orientation,” says the AAP statement.
It goes on to claim that science supports their position.
“Scientific evidence affirms that children have similar developmental and emotional needs and receive similar parenting whether they are raised by parents of the same or different genders,” the abstract states.
The American College of Pediatrics (ACP) quickly followed with a statement of its own that was highly critical of the AAP’s position.
“The American College of Pediatricians reaffirms that the intact, functional family consisting of a married (female) mother and (male) father provides the best opportunity for children,” the statement said. “The College, therefore, disputes the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) claim that supporting same-sex unions promotes the ‘well-being of children.’
“The College does not support the alteration of this time-honored and proven standard to conform to pressures from ‘politically correct’ groups,” Dr. Den Trumbull, president of the ACP said. “No one concerned with the well-being of children can reasonably ignore the evidence for maintaining the current standard, nor can they or we ignore the equally strong evidence that harm to children can result if the current standards are rejected.”
He concludes: “The AAP ignores generations of evidence of health risks to children in advocating for the legality and legitimacy of same-sex marriage and child-rearing.”
Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council, said in a statement provided to CNSNews.com that the AAP announcement “has implications which far exceed their area of legitimate expertise, which is medicine.”
“Statements like this from the AAP and other large professional organizations are clearly driven more by political correctness than by the actual state of the research on this issue,” Sprigg said.
“An overwhelming body of social science research has shown conclusively that children raised by their own biological mother and father, committed to one another in a lifelong marriage, are happier, healthier, and more prosperous than children in any other family structure.”
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