England Bans the Use of Puberty Blockers at Nation’s Gender Identity Clinics

by Debra Heine

 

England’s National Health Service (NHS) has banned the use of puberty blockers to treat children with gender dysphoria at the nation’s gender identity clinics, Sky News reported.

Taking a position at odds with the Biden administration, Health Minister Maria Caulfield said: “We have always been clear that children’s safety and wellbeing is paramount, so we welcome this landmark decision by the NHS. Ending the routine prescription of puberty blockers will help ensure that care is based on evidence, expert clinical opinion and is in the best interests of the child.”

Puberty blockers block testosterone and estrogen to stop the normal physical changes of puberty such as breast development, facial hair, periods, and voice-deepening. The decision affects anyone under the age of 18 being treated by state-funded NHS. The drugs will now only be available to children as part of clinical research trials.

NHS conducted an independent review of services for children under 18 following the explosion of referrals to England’s Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) in the past ten years.

In 2011/2012, there were under 250 referrals to GIDS compared to more than 5,000 in 2021/2022.

GIDS will be forced to close at the end of March and will be replaced by two new NHS services that will open in London and Liverpool in early April.

NHS said children attending these clinics will be seen by experts in neurodiversity, pediatrics and mental health, “resulting in a holistic approach to care.”

Around 5,000 children and young people are currently on the waiting list for referral into the new clinics, with 250 patients expected to be transferred to them when they are open.

Currently there are fewer than 100 children on puberty blockers, who will continue their treatment at Leeds and University College London Hospital.

Puberty blockers can be used to delay the development of physical characteristics which can make someone look male or female, allowing transgender young people to explore their gender identity and weigh up medically transitioning.

Taking them early in puberty may mean less treatment or surgery in the future. However, critics have raised concerns over issues including consent, mental health risks and bone density development.

England’s decision to ban puberty blockers in minors was announced on the 4th annual “Detrans Awareness Day,” which aims to raise awareness about the “unique health care needs” of detransitioners on the “unpopular trip” back from transition. It also highlights how young children like detransitioner Prisha Mosley become lifetime victims of transgender ideology and pseudoscience.

Rachel Levine,  the transgender U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health, has repeatedly insisted that there’s a consensus among medical professionals that “gender-affirming care is medically necessary, safe, and effective.”

By “gender-affirming care,” Levine means cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers, and radical gender reassignment surgeries. Levine said: “There is no argument among medical professionals” that minors’ access to “gender-affirming care” is important and valuable.

The fact that hormonal treatments and puberty blockers have been linked to lower bone density, and infertility in patients, Levine has continued to promote them as “gender-affirming” and “life-saving.”

“Every major medical association agrees: gender-affirming care is life-saving, medically necessary, age-appropriate and a critical tool for health care providers,” Levine declared last year. Levine argued that attempts to restrict these life-altering drugs among “trans youth” was “costing the lives of young people.”

England clearly disagrees.

Next on the chopping block is the use of cross-sex hormones on minors questioning their sex.

The Health and Equality Acts (Amendment) Bill seeks to regulate access to the body-altering drugs both privately and on the NHS and will receive a second reading on Friday.

– – –

Debra Heine reports for American Greatness. 

 

 

 

 

---

---