{"id":2645539,"date":"2026-08-15T20:33:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T00:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mainstream-ob-gyn-org-pushed-out-state-chair-for-questioning-wpath-trans-guidelines\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T20:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T00:39:09","slug":"mainstream-ob-gyn-org-pushed-out-state-chair-for-questioning-wpath-trans-guidelines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mainstream-ob-gyn-org-pushed-out-state-chair-for-questioning-wpath-trans-guidelines\/","title":{"rendered":"Mainstream Ob-Gyn Org Pushed Out State Chair for Questioning WPATH Trans Guidelines"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmainstream-ob-gyn-org-pushed-out-state-chair-for-questioning-wpath-trans-guidelines%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2645539&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A former chair of teh American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG),Dr. Karla Solheim, publicly revealed that she was forced to resign after raising concerns about the weak scientific evidence supporting gender transition procedures. She reported that ACOG prioritized ideology over evidence-backed medicine and silenced her from criticizing their endorsement of certain guidelines for transgender healthcare. Solheim, a lesbian, Democrat, and experienced OB-GYN, began questioning transgender treatments after working at an LGBTQ+ clinic and observing the prevalence of gender-affirming surgeries among healthy young women. Her skepticism grew as she encountered a detransitioner and found a lack of <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >robust long-term research supporting current practices<\/a>. Despite initial performing such surgeries, she started to decline them when she saw the absence of medical necessity. Her efforts to seek answers and challenge prevailing guidelines led to her being labeled a dissenter, eventually resulting in her dismissal by ACOG after publicly criticizing the organization\u2019s relationship with WPATH guidelines. Solheim criticizes medical organizations for succumbing to activist pressures, emphasizing a need for better scientific integrity and patient care in transgender medicine.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><br \/>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\"><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_0)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>A former state chair of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) went public this month with her story of how the professional organization forced her to resign rather than listen to her warnings about the weak evidence for gender transition procedures. \u201cRather than hear my concerns and take them seriously, my national medical association chose to silence me,\u201d wrote Dr. Karla Solheim. \u201cThey chose to be complicit in a campaign to promote ideology in medicine over evidence-backed science.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In March, ACOG Vice President Rachel Pittman hauled Solheim into a meeting and gave her a choice: \u201cresign from my position as chair [of ACOG\u2019s Iowa chapter], or stop publicly criticizing ACOG\u2019s endorsement of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health\u2019s [WPATH] guidelines for transgender medical care.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe choice was easy,\u201d Solheim said. She resigned, \u201cbecause I did not intend to silence myself on an issue about which I care so much, and one that impacts so many vulnerable patients deserving of the best, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/american-medical-association-calls-abortion-bans-violation-of-human-rights-ahead-of-scotus-abortion-decision\/\" title=\"American ... Calls Abortion Bans \u2018Violation Of Human Rights\u2019 Ahead Of SCOTUS Abortion Decision\">evidence-based medical care<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Solheim\u2019s case was not the classic cancellation of Christian conservatives, but rather the Left eating another one of their own. \u201cI\u2019m a board-certified obstetrician, a lesbian, a mother, a lifelong Democrat,\u201d Solheim described herself in an August 5 piece in The Free Press. \u201cAfter enrolling at the University of California, I attended the University of Iowa for my medical residency, where I met my former wife; we had three kids together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In fact, Solheim\u2019s lesbian identity put her in the position to question transgender medicine. In 2019, Solheim began working at UnityPoint LGBTQ+ clinic in Waterloo, Iowa several times a month and continued to take referrals once the clinic no longer fit her schedule.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was surprised to find that my first patient at the clinic was a biological woman who identified as a man. Even more surprising was that my second patient was too, as was my third, and nearly every patient on my schedule,\u201d Solheim reflected. \u201cThe clinic, I learned quickly, didn\u2019t predominantly serve the needs of lesbian or gay patients. It was, by and large, a gender clinic, there to provide medical pathways toward transition for those with gender dysphoria, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/group-promotes-transgender-ideology-in-florida-there-is-no-such-thing-as-other-peoples-children\/\" title=\"Group Promotes Transgender Ideology in Florida: &#039;There Is No Such Thing as Other People&#039;s Chil...en&#039;\">including hormone replacement therapy<\/a> and surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At first, Solheim performed gender transition surgeries, including hysterectomies, at the clinic without raising questions. In her mind, hysterectomies were advisable for patients taking testosterone or who didn\u2019t want regular periods to intrude upon their attempt to live as males.<\/p>\n<p>However, \u201cin 2023, a patient came to my office seeking a hysterectomy and made me rethink everything,\u201d Solheim wrote. \u201cShe was in her early 20s and perfectly healthy, but she did not intend to undergo a full medical transition. \u2026 I couldn\u2019t understand how her request was any different than asking for an elective hysterectomy \u2014 a surgery that has no medical justification, and against which ACOG strictly recommends.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI began to reflect on this patient, and all the other patients who had come through my door asking for me to remove their uteri,\u201d she continued. \u201cWhy was it that for a healthy young person it would be nearly impossible to get their uterus removed without an underlying medical issue, but if one were simply to identify as a man with no other plans to transition \u2014 or even just say they are nonbinary \u2014 the surgery is freely available?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When Solheim raised these questions in a community of OB-GYNs, she encountered plenty of ridicule but few answers. \u201cOne group of respondents was highly credentialed doctors at some of the best academic institutions in the country telling me the procedure was \u2018medically necessary,\u2019 that ACOG, guided by WPATH\u2019s guidelines, explicitly recommended it. And the second was a group of doctors who called me names like \u2018ignorant\u2019 and \u2018transphobe\u2019 for even questioning whether to perform the procedure in the first place,\u201d she recalled. \u201cBut nobody could provide a strong, evidence-based argument as to why this procedure would help my patient get better, so I declined to perform it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Solheim feared telling the patient the reason why she declined to perform the surgery. \u201cI was scared she would go into the community and tell her friends, and that I\u2019d be labeled a \u2018transphobic doctor\u2019 and my practice would be at risk. I had seen that happen to plenty of highly regarded physicians before me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At this point, Solheim encountered a detransitioner, who catalyzed the shift in her thinking. \u201cShortly after, a detransitioner, a woman who had sought testosterone treatment to transition to male but later stopped taking it and resumed identifying as a woman, came into my office,\u201d she narrated. \u201cI had been told for years that detransitioning was so rare, so unlikely, that I was shocked to find someone in my small community going through it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This point echoes the experience of Glenna Goldis, a lesbian lawyer who was fired from the New York Attorney General\u2019s Office for questioning the validity of transgender medical procedures. Goldis was alerted to the harms by hearing a detransitioner on a podcast. Evidently, the first-person testimony of detransitioners is a compelling way to prompt at least some far-left practitioners to rethink transgender medicine.<\/p>\n<p>After this, Solheim \u201cbegan to dig more deeply into the literature on transgender medical science,\u201d expecting to find \u201ca great body of research supporting these invasive measures.\u201d Instead, she \u201ccouldn\u2019t find a single good long-term, longitudinal study on the health outcomes of transgender patients who underwent treatments including hormone replacement therapy and surgery. Then I started reading books like Hannah Barnes\u2019s \u2018Time to Think,\u2019 an investigation into what went wrong at the U.K.\u2019s Tavistock Gender Service for Children, which shut down in 2022 after independent inspectors found it provided \u2018inadequate\u2019 care.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn July 2025, I tuned in to a United States Federal Trade Commission hearing that laid out a strong case that leaders within WPATH unethically manipulated their data or put pressure on researchers to produce outcomes that supported their preexisting guidelines,\u201d Solheim continued. \u201cI was floored to discover the research basis [for] gender medicine both for adolescents and adults was not just poor; it was fraudulent. I couldn\u2019t understand how my medical association, let alone others in my field, could endorse it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is another touchpoint with Goldis\u2019s story. In June 2025, Goldis spoke at a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) workshop on \u201cThe Dangers of \u2018Gender-Affirming Care\u2019 for Minors.\u201d Goldis was later hired by the FTC to investigate pediatric gender medicine as consumer fraud, after she was fired by the New York attorney general for wanting to do just that.<\/p>\n<p>In December 2025, Solheim \u201cauthored an essay on my blog titled \u2018Physicians Must Demand Answers from WPATH,\u2019\u201d which proved to be the beginning of the end. \u201cI didn\u2019t expect ACOG to completely disregard all of the concerns I had raised,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>On February 4, 2026, \u201cthe newly appointed [ACOG] Vice President Rachel Pittman sent me an  stating my article \u2018raises concerns\u2019 because of my \u2018public expression of dissatisfaction with ACOG\u2019s inclusion of WPATH in its clinical guidance.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That led to a March 10 meeting, in which Pittman told Solheim to either give up her criticism of WPATH or resign. The meeting lasted only 20 minutes, and Pittman warned Solheim ahead of time that the meeting would not feature \u201ca full discussion on the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat made my dismissal all the more ironic was that the very day I was ousted, ACOG awarded the Iowa section the State Legislative Advocacy Award for my work to recruit and retain OB-GYNs in the state,\u201d Solheim explained. \u201cA week earlier, ACOG recognized me with a service award and asked me to give a presentation in Washington, D.C., about my work in Iowa to a national audience of OB-GYNs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In other words, Solheim was not only a member of ACOG in good standing. She was an exemplary member whose leadership earned her recognition. But when she chose to challenge WPATH, she immediately became dispensable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhenever WPATH\u2019s proponents are asked to defend their guidelines, they don\u2019t cite the weak scientific evidence. Their strongest argument is always that all major medical associations in the United States have adopted them,\u201d Solheim summarized. \u201cThat\u2019s hard to argue with. And it was true until this past February, when the American Society of Plastic Surgeons became the first major medical association to no longer endorse medicalization of minors dealing with gender dysphoria.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI always thought once the leaders of our medical associations learned the truth, they would seek to change our guidance. But I continue to be disappointed,\u201d she added. \u201cThe reality is that these medical associations have now become overrun by a small, loud group of activists. The leaders who we expect to guide us and hold us to the highest standards have succumbed to them out of cowardice, or even ignorance, to what is best for our patients.<\/p>\n<p>Mainstream medical organizations are \u201cnow more interested in silencing critics than they are in standing up for what is best for our patients,\u201d Solheim concluded. \u201cI know this because it\u2019s exactly what I witnessed at ACOG.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><em>Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.<\/em><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #171717; display: flex;font-size: 16px;font-weight: 600;line-height: 1.5;margin: 24px 0;padding: 18px 20px 18px 30px;text-align: left;\">\n<div style=\"align-self: stretch;border-left: 3px solid #171717;flex-shrink: 0;padding-left: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<p><a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/\">Choose The Western Journal as your preferred source on Google and never miss reporting that defends truth, protects freedom, and advances Western civilization<\/a><\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey == typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts = { \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs = [ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i = 0; i < inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! 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