In a victory for sanity, the United Kingdom has reportedly banned damaging puberty blockers for kids.
England’s National Health Service (NHS) has banned puberty blockers for “transgender” identifying children, according to Breitbart. Back in 2022, research highlighted the potentially severe long-term side effects of puberty blockers, which are prescribed to some children who identify as “transgender.” The NHS’s decision is good news, helping ensure that kids can grow up normal and healthy.
There is evidence that up to four in five children who claim to be “transgender” will grow out of it naturally. What there is not good evidence for is the safety and clinical effectiveness of puberty blockers for children, which is why the UK banned them. The government supported NHS’s “landmark decision,” the outlet added, agreeing it is in the “best interests of children.” After the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) reviewed puberty blockers, NHS issued the ban.
Breitbart quoted a spokesperson for NHS, who said, “NHS England has carefully considered the evidence review conducted by NICE and further published evidence available to date. We have concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of puberty-suppressing hormones to make the treatment routinely available at this time.”
The UK Guardian did cite the potentially concerning exception: “From now on, children and young people will only be able to get them if they are taking part in a clinical trial. At least one such trial is due to start later this year, but no details, such as who will be eligible to join it, have been published.”
Doctors and politicians have already called on America to follow England’s lead on banning puberty blockers, according to The Daily Mail. For instance, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), a physician, said, “[L]et my message to America and the radical gender ideologues be clear: Wake up.” He added, “The irreversible and irreparable damage these drugs have on kids is dangerous and is medical malpractice to perform and prescribe to children.” While multiple European countries seek to restrict so-called transgender “treatments” for youth, America under the Biden administration is committed to supporting them.
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LGBTQ activists are not fans of the new restrictions, however. LGBTQ group Stonewall’s spokesperson complained, “All trans young people deserve access to high quality, timely healthcare … We are concerned that NHS England will be putting new prescriptions on hold until a research protocol is up and running at the end of 2024.”
Puberty blockers not only cause delayed sexual development in young people but they can also produce such serious effects as permanently retarded bone growth and infertility, as well as potentially retard brain development. Children cannot alter their biological sex anyway, so encouraging them to retard their development and possibly damage their bodies permanently — all to encourage the fiction of transgenderism — is grievously irresponsible. The UK has made the right decision in protecting kids. If only the United States would follow suit.