Fox News “Medical A Team” member Dr. Keith Ablow speculated wildly about medical care for transgender children, proposing his own harmful treatments that go against scientific evidence and professional standards from mainstream medical associations.

In a rant where he compared being transgender to pretending to be 65 to get Medicare, Ablow proposed injecting transgender children with hormones corresponding to their gender assigned at birth to “go with nature” and make them “feel more comfortable.” Ablow’s proposed “treatment” is his own extreme variation of discredited ex-gay “conversion therapy” which falsely claims to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Ablow’s suggestion is reminiscent of 1940’s era “treatments” where lesbians were forced to submit to estrogen injections and men were given testosterone to “cure” them of being gay. These type of “reparative therapy” practices have been rejected for decades by all mainstream medical associations.

While Ablow has a history of attacking transgender children with extreme, inaccurate claims, experts contradict his talking points. The American Psychological Association has stated that it is “not helpful to force [a transgender child] to act in a more gender-conforming way.” Family rejection of transgender youth has been linked to a series of negative health consequences.

From the April 25 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends:

STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): Target, you know the big store? Now the target of some controversy after joining the so-called bathroom bill debate, saying, quote, “Inclusivity is a core belief at Target and we welcome transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity.”

AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): But many customers are taking issue with that. Nearly 500,000 people have signed a petition to boycott Target. Fox News medical A-team psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow joins us now with his take on the issue. Good morning Dr. Ablow.

KEITH ABLOW: Good morning, how are you guys?

EARHARDT: We're great, thank you. What is your take on this?

ABLOW: Well, here's the bottom line. The reason that the bathroom bill is center stage in the presidential campaign and now in a national boycott of Target [[of]] that's up to about 500,000 people is because it represents more than bathrooms. We're not just talking about who is going to use which restroom. We're talking about whether closely held opinion of an individual will be allowed to overcome scientific data and history. Right, so if you believe that you are of one gender, but your DNA and your physical appearance and your physical anatomy are evidence that you are of another gender, and there's that conflict, then if we allow people culturally to dictate terms in our culture, then we also by extension may be in a position where we allow people to say that they're 65 when they're 45 and get Medicare, allow people to get tattooed head-to-foot and say I'm a black person. Now would that be offensive to black people, if that person got affirmative action preferences at school? I think it might. Why? Because there's history. There's culture, there's reality. This is the leading edge. Some would argue, I might, of an unraveling of our culture and perhaps our ability to plan for the future as a species.

DOOCY: So you're suggesting that people can select their gender, they could select their race, they could select their age. How do we get to this place?

ABLOW: We got to this place because we care about people. We don't want to hurt people's feelings. OK, I understand that. We're also too politically correct. But look, there's not a lot of scientific evidence that it's better to approach transgender youth with the opposite hormone because we inject them with massive doses of testosterone if they're female to say look we'll make you more comfortable with your chosen gender. You know, we don't even explore, should it be more estrogen? Should we go with nature and say maybe we'll make you more female, you'll feel more comfortable? There aren't these explorations. We don't treat with psychiatric medicines by and large to say maybe this is a bit of a fixed and false belief. Not different than if you thought you were black person when you are caucasian. The science isn't even there. So if we have a draft, God forbid, and we're trying to save our nation, are we really prepared for 18-year-olds and 20-year-olds to assert that they are really more like 12-year-olds? They feel it. They're immature. Their whole families have said look, much too immature to be drafted. That's where we're headed. Do we want to head there?