Trans youth will no longer be prescribed puberty blockers at NHS England gender identity clinics in a new “blow” to gender-affirming healthcare.
Puberty blockers are a type of medicine that prevent puberty from starting by blocking the hormones – like testosterone and oestrogen – that lead to puberty-related changes in the body. In the case of trans youth, this can delay unwanted physical changes like menstruation, breast growth, voice changes or facial hair growth.
On Tuesday (12 March), NHS England confirmed the medicine, which has been described as “life-saving” medical care for trans youth, will only be available to young people as part of clinical research trials.
The government described the move as a “landmark decision”, Sky News reported. It believed such a move is in the “best interests of the child”.
The medical consensus already exists. This isn’t some experimental drug; puberty blockers have been widely prescribed to children for decades. We know how they work, we know they are generally safe, and we know that blocking access to them will result in needless suffering and death.
Here are the “huge questions” you should really be asking:
If these drugs are so dangerous, why are people only bringing it up now and not sometime in the 40 years since they entered widespread usage?
Why are people suddenly claiming that a drug we’ve been using for decades has “too many unknowns” and “not enough evidence” for its safety?
If all of this controversy is really genuine, and not the result of a moral panic rooted in bigotry, then why is nobody proposing a ban on puberty blockers for cisgender children? How can they be “dangerous” and “untested” for one group of children but safe and effective for a different group of children when both groups are taking them for the same purpose (to delay puberty)?
If you really care about the welfare of trans people, then you should support giving us the healthcare that we and our doctors say we need.
I do. And with due respect, you’re just an anonymous poster on an internet forum. Your opinions necessarily carry zero weight. That’s nothing personal because I don’t know you, and I won’t believe your assertions, because that’s not how this works.