National Geographic has decided to feature a nine-year-old transgender child on the cover of its January 2017 issue, much to the chagrin of an association of paediatricians.

The child, named Avery Jackson, told the magazine: "The best thing about being a girl is, now I don't have to pretend to be a boy."

National Geographic has defended its action, saying it seeks to evolve people's "understanding of people on the gender spectrum."

However, Michelle Cretella, MD, president of the American College of Pediatricians, told Life Site News that it is actually doing otherwise. She accused the publication of "promoting a political agenda over science and the wellbeing of innocent children" by featuring a young transgender child.

"'Affirming' so-called transgender children means sterilising them as young as 11years old," said Cretella. "Puberty blockers plus cross-sex hormones causes permanent sterility. And biological girls who 'transition' to male by taking testosterone may have a double mastectomy at age 16. The lifetime use of cross-sex hormones also puts these children at risk for stroke, heart disease, diabetes, cancers and more."

Cretella believes gender-confused kids will eventually grow out of their gender dysphoria. Hence, it is both unethical and harmful for their parents, or anybody else, to fuel their confusion and make decisions regarding their gender change, she said.

"When a child under the age of 12 thinks they are the opposite sex and is allowed to naturally pass through puberty, 75 percent [to] 95 percent of the time that child will accept his or her biological sex by the late teen years," she said.

This is not the first time National Geographic has featured transgender individuals, but this is their most high-profile treatment to date. Cretella thinks the publication folded to the public's widespread support of "transgenderism."

She likens this support to "child abuse."

"When academic, medical and other public institutions propagate the lifetime use of toxic hormones and the surgical removal of healthy body parts as healthcare for children, they are engaged in institutionalised child abuse," she said.