Pro-life pediatricians group falls victim to 'malicious cyberattack': We won't be intimidated by bullying tactics
A pro-life organization is vowing to remain undeterred in its advocacy after falling victim to a cyberattack.
American College of Pediatricians Executive Director Dr. Jill Simons said in a statement on Friday that the organization had found itself subject to “an ongoing, coordinated, malicious cyberattack by hackers on our key technology structures, databases, and our financial accounts.” Simons said the cyberattack began on April 24.
“This attack was intended to intimidate and incapacitate, and it will be costly to recover, but we will not be intimidated by these illegal bullying tactics that amount to a hate crime,” she added. “We will continue to promote the health and well-being of children by protecting the rights of born and preborn children, promoting biological integrity, and defending conscience rights for healthcare providers.”
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The American College of Pediatricians identifies itself as “a national medical association of licensed physicians and healthcare professionals who specialize in the care of infants, children, and adolescents.” It was founded by “a group of concerned physicians who saw the need for a pediatric organization that would not be influenced by the politically driven pronouncements of the day” and places a high premium on “the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death and the importance of the mother-father family unit in the rearing of children.”
Simons explained why she believed the cyberattack was carried out against the organization in an interview on The Daily Signal podcast last Friday. “There’s no doubt in my mind that this is related to a few recent bold, brave stances that we’ve had,” she asserted. “One is that we’re part of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, which recently filed a lawsuit against the [Food and Drug Administration's expanded use of] the abortion pill.”
“The American College of Pediatricians is one of the five founding members of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine,” she explained.
Simons told The Daily Signal that “slander about our organization” spread following a federal judge’s ruling suspending the FDA’s approval of the abortion pill. While the future of the abortion pill remains uncertain as litigation continues, Simons reported that other pro-life organizations were receiving “very similar threats” following the initial April 7 decision that outraged pro-abortion activists.
In addition to its advocacy against the abortion pill, the American College of Pediatricians has spoken out against the push to provide children experiencing gender dysphoria with services referred to by LGBT activists as “gender-affirming care.” Specifically, the American College of Pediatricians has warned that puberty blockers can cause “many serious permanent side effects including osteoporosis, mood disorders, seizures, cognitive impairment” as well as sterility.
Additionally, the American College of Pediatricians has listed “an increased risk of heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, blood clots and cancers across their lifespan” as potential long-term impacts of cross-sex hormones. These stances so-called sex-change procedures, including chemical and surgical castration for minors, have caused the organization to receive the ire of trans activist groups.
A tweet posted on April 24 by the Twitter account AnonOpsUnited, which describes itself as a source of news about the anarchist group “#Anonymous and everything of importance,” told the American College of Pediatricians that “you’ve been hacked.”
The social media post denounced the pediatricians' organization as a “fringe anti-LGBTQ hate group that masquerades as the premier U.S. association of pediatricians to push anti-LGBTQ junk science.”
#Anonymous#LGBTQ
— AnonOpsUnited (@AnonOpsUnited2) April 24, 2023
You’ve been hacked
The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) is a fringe anti-LGBTQ hate group that masquerades as the premier U.S. association of pediatricians to push anti-LGBTQ junk sciencehttps://t.co/TtUrHQva4Jpic.twitter.com/VOofRCnOOV
The tweet contained a screenshot of a page proclaiming that “the American College of Pediatricians® are not nice people” and urging people to illegally use “this private information belonging to them.”
Speaking to The Daily Signal, Simons expressed gratitude for the support her organization has received following the cyberattack. “We are not alone in this and we are going to get through this and believe me, we are going to be stronger than ever,” she added.
“We are gearing up and this is definitely not the end of anything. We have just begun the fight and this has woken a sleeping giant.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]
