England’s National Health Service (NHS) has announced that it will no longer routinely approve the use of cross-sex hormones in those under 16 years old, citing a lack of evidence regarding the “safety and clinical effectiveness” of the drugs.
In the announcement, NHS contended that puberty blockers can lead to “irreversible changes” in young people, such as breast development in males who take estrogen and an unnatural “deepening of the voice” in females who take testosterone.
The agency further stated that “long-term cross-sex hormone treatment may cause temporary or even permanent infertility.”
It’s a rather abrupt and drastic change for England’s national healthcare provider, which has seen a dramatic jump in juveniles being treated for gender dysphoria.
“Puberty blockers (gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogues) are not available to children and young people for gender incongruence or gender dysphoria because there is not enough evidence of safety and clinical effectiveness,” read the NHS announcement. However, “From the age of 16, teenagers who’ve been on hormone blockers for at least 12 months may be given cross-sex hormones, also known as gender-affirming hormones.”
The agency acknowledged that there is concern about the long-term use of cross-gender hormones and a lack of research about those effects:
There is some uncertainty about the risks of long-term cross-sex hormone treatment. Children, young people and their families are strongly discouraged from getting puberty blockers or gender affirming hormones from unregulated sources or online providers that are not regulated by UK regulatory bodies.
The ban is scheduled to take effect on April 1.
LGBT activists strongly condemned the new policy.
“This announcement is deeply disappointing and a further restriction of support offered to trans children and young people through the NHS, which is failing trans youth,” read a statement from Mermaids, a British transgender advocacy group. “There were virtually no first appointments offered in 2023, with ever growing waiting lists over five years.”
The group vowed to keep up the fight for trans youth, regardless of the ban.
“Mermaids will continue to advocate strongly for access to timely, holistic and supportive healthcare for trans youth including access to puberty blockers for those who need them.”
Another UK LGBT advocacy group echoed Mermaids’ rejection of the new healthcare policy.
“We find it concerning that this new policy has come into effect before the research protocol has been set up, and we also note the potential it creates for further misunderstanding around puberty blockers themselves, which are not a new treatment designed for trans people and are already prescribed for a significantly larger number of young people experiencing precocious puberty,” said a statement from U.K.-based LGBT group Stonewall.
Some in government expressed support for the new policy.
“We have always been clear that children’s safety and wellbeing is paramount, so we welcome this landmark decision by the NHS,” said Maria Caulfield, Under-Secretary of State for Mental Health and Women’s Health. “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.”
Onetime Prime Minister Liz Truss agreed, saying on Fox News: “Children have been taking this treatment in the U.K. and around the world, and they are potentially damaging their fertility, they’re damaging their bodies. They don’t understand the consequences of those decisions, and this has happened because it’s been pushed by gender ideologues … putting pressure on the health service here in the United Kingdom and around the world.”
“It’s incredibly damaging for young people before they’re able to make those decisions, to take these drugs that are altering these bodies, and in the future, they may not be able to have children. Their future may be damaged,” she added.
While the NHS is tapping the brakes on willy-nilly prescriptions for these dangerous and experimental drugs, medical organizations in the United States, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have lent their full support to their use in children.
“It is critically important for every child to have access to quality, comprehensive and evidence-based care — transgender and gender-diverse youth are no exception,” said Lee Savio Beers, a past president of the AAP.
So, in our upside-down world, a socialist healthcare bureaucracy is apparently more concerned with the well-being of children than an American organization supposedly dedicated to children’s health.
