UK Bans Puberty Blockers for ‘Transgender’ Minors
The United Kingdom’s Department of Health and Social Care announced it will protect children by indefinitely restricting “the sale and supply of puberty-suppressing hormones” for those suffering from “gender incongruence” because the drugs pose “an unacceptable safety risk.”
Despite the ban, England’s National Health Services and the National Institute for Health Care Research will still be conducting a clinical trial “into the potential benefits and harms of puberty suppressing hormones as a treatment option for children and young people with gender incongruence.”
But the risky, experimental drugs will no longer be widely available for clinicians to prescribe; they will only be used in this long-term trial.
The decision follows an evidence review of “the routine use of puberty blockers for the treatment of gender incongruence” by England’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the findings released earlier this year in the Cass Review, an “Independent Review of Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People.”
Both reviews found there was “insufficient evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of puberty blockers for adolescents.” A similar investigation from England’s Commission on Human Medicines found “that the current prescribing environment is unsafe.”
The NHS ordered in March 2024 to suspend use of the drugs for sexually confused children; this recent announcement updates that previous decision “to make the order indefinite.”
In its statement about the decision to suspend the use of these drugs for children with sexual identity confusion, the NHS explained:
- Puberty blockers are a type of medication called Gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues. They are licensed only for use in young children (for precocious puberty) or older adults (for certain cancers).
- They are not licensed for use for adolescents, and they are not licensed for gender incongruence or dysphoria.
- Licensing of medicines requires a robust assessment of safety and effectiveness data. These medications have not undergone that process, which means the safety and risk implications for use with gender dysphoria have not been assessed.
The drugs have also been used to chemically castrate sex offenders.
The American College of Pediatricians explains the risks and harms for children who take puberty suppressants for gender dysphoria, including emotional instability, depression, greater self-harm, behavioral and emotional problems, along with “many serious permanent side effects including osteoporosis, mood disorders, seizures, cognitive impairment and, when combined with cross-sex hormones, sterility.”
The announcement came just one week after the U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in United States v. Skrmetti, where the federal government and “transgender” activists argued against a Tennessee law banning the use of puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries for minors.
In defending the Tennessee law, state Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti gave several reasons why the legislature moved to protect children from these experimental, damaging procedures, including: high desistance rates when a child’s puberty is not suppressed, “accounts of regret and harm from detransitioners,” “concerns over minors’ ability to provide informed consent,” and the lack of evidence in favor of puberty blockers.
Skrmetti also pointed out:
It’s tragic that many medical professionals and groups in the U.S. still promote these devastating, ineffective procedures.
While we’re glad the U.K. has stopped widespread use of puberty blockers, it’s disturbing that these clinical trials that will take place, using children as guinea pigs in a fruitless effort to heal what is not a biological or medical condition, but a spiritual, mental and psychological issue.
A more compassionate approach would be to help these children resolve these sexual identity struggles, working with them so they accept and embrace their God-given masculinity or femininity.
Related articles and resources:
Counseling for Sexual Identity Concerns: A Measured, Careful, and Compassionate approach
Key Takeaways from Supreme Court Case on ‘Transgender’ Interventions
Supreme Court Hears Case on Protecting Children from ‘Transgender’ Sterilization and Mutilation
Talking to Your Children About Transgender Issues
Tennessee and Mississippi Pass Bills to Protect Children from Harmful ‘Sex Change’ Procedures
U.K.’s Review of Child Gender Policy Reveals Profound Failures That U.S. Still Defends
The WPATH Files – Transgender Interventions Are ‘Unethical Medical Experiments’
World’s Largest Youth Trans Clinic Shuts Down Over Poor Science
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