Top Medical Journal Publishes Op-Ed Against Parents Rights To Stop Child Sex Changes
Libby Bandelin · Oct 21, 2026 · 5 min read
A prestigious medical journal published an opinion piece that claimed giving parents’ the right to make their child’s healthcare decisions is a threat to physicians providing care.
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) — arguably one of the most affluent publications in the world — published an opinion article on Oct. 12, written by two health service academics who argued that parents making healthcare decisions for their children — such as preventing them from getting sex-change surgery — threatens a child’s access to care and a physician’s ability to provide it.
“Through contemporary moves at the state level, parents’ rights policy is becoming increasingly unbounded: what seemingly started in education is spreading into health care in ways that can compromise quality and outcomes,” the op-ed titled: “When Parents Rights Lead To Policy Wrongs,” read. “Such policy is a barrier to acceptable care,” the opinion piece published in JAMA said. “As teens are seeking primary care that is welcoming, respectful, and nonjudgmental.”
The list of “concerns” the researchers articulated in the piece included: parents seeking to make decisions about their children’s vaccination rates, sexual health and HIV/AIDs treatments, expressions of gender and sexuality, mental health, and substance abuse disorders.
JAMA is the flagship journal of the American Medical Association and ranked number four out of 336 global medical journals categorized by a 2026 impact factor study. JAMA is also a highly selective publication — accepting only four percent of all submissions, the factor report also found.
“That JAMA allows commentary on their official page to take such a radical and unscientific position is highly concerning,” Ian Kingsbury, Researcher and Director of the Center for Accountability In Medicine at Do No Harm — a policy organization opposing child sex changes — told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “There is no evidence to support transgender inventions on minors, including social transition. JAMA publishing this commentary shows how captured by transgender activists much of the medical establishment is. JAMA should drop the fringe ideologues and focus on high-quality, evidence-based science.”
The two academics who authored the opinion also have a collective history of millions of dollars in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research studies, according to the NIH’s project reporter web page.
The op-ed’s corresponding author, Dr. Denise Lillvis, received over $159,000 in grant-money from the NIH for leading a project in 2024. Her co-author, Dr. Anna Kirkland has a total of $2,076,235 in project funding from the NIH, CDC and FDA listed on the NIH’s website for three projects she led between 2024-2026.
In 2021, Kirkland voiced her recommendation that the COVID-19 vaccine be a mandatory requirement across all three University of Michigan campuses, a recorded interview from Civic Center TV shows.