Better late than never: UK to stop prescribing puberty blockers for children who experience gender dysphoria

The U.K. is taking steps to move away from routinely prescribing puberty blockers for children who experience gender dysphoria. The National Health Service (NHS) decision follows an independent review conducted by Dr. Hilary Cass, which highlighted "the significant uncertainties surrounding the use of hormone treatments." (Related: Puberty blockers are QUACK medicine backed by nothing… chemical child abuse is now demanded by LGBT pushers conspiring with evil doctors.) According to the NHS, the organization "will only commission puberty-suppressing hormones as part of clinical research" instead of routinely prescribing the medication to children. The organization plans to conduct targeted stakeholder testing on an interim clinical commissioning policy, which proposes that outside of a research setting, puberty-suppressing hormones should not be routinely commissioned for children and adolescents with gender incongruence/dysphoria. In addition to this policy change, NHS England has established a new national Children and Young People's Gender Dysphoria Research Oversight Board. The board has approved the development of a study examining the impact of puberty-suppressing hormones on gender dysphoria in children and young people with early-onset gender dysphoria. The establishment of this board reflects a commitment to investigating the effects of puberty blockers thoroughly. The NHS aims to adopt a holistic, multidisciplinary approach to assessing and addressing the needs of individuals with gender dysphoria. An integrated multidisciplinary team will determine the most appropriate clinical pathway involving the child or young person and their family.

Puberty blockers may cause permanent damage

The decision by the NHS and the establishment of the oversight board signal a welcome shift in approach. These moves suggest that European countries such as the U.K., Finland, and Sweden recognize that using puberty blockers and other forms of gender-affirming care may not be the all-encompassing solution for gender dysphoria. Concerns have been raised regarding the potentially irreversible harm caused by these treatments, leading to severe consequences in adulthood. Ken Ham, the CEO of Answers in Genesis (AiG), a Christian apologetics organization, expressed his concerns about the dangers of hormone therapies. Ham emphasized the health risks of puberty blockers, including decreased bone density leading to fractures, osteoporosis, permanent infertility, chronic back pain and potential cognitive issues. Ham also pointed out that there is nothing "safe and reversible" with puberty blockers. "That's just puberty blockers. That doesn't include the surgeries – like mastectomies – these children and teens are increasingly funneled into," Ham stated. "It's a horrifying world of pain and lifelong dependence on the medical community," he said. "It's all very new. We don't know the long-term consequences of all this, yet the experiments on a generation of kids enthusiastically continue. Investigative journalists Megan Twohey and Christina Jewett shed light on the permanent damage that gender-affirming hormone therapies and surgical procedures may leave to children. They cited the cases of three children, aged 11 to 13, who had undergone puberty blockers as part of their gender dysphoria treatment. While using these blockers has been promoted as safe and reversible, the investigative journalists indicated in their piece that reviews of scientific papers and interviews with over 50 medical professionals and experts worldwide pointed to potentially adverse effects. Head over to GenderConfused.com for more stories about gender-related medical interventions.

CITIZENS NEWS

Puberty blockers may cause permanent damage

More related stories: