A UK High Court judge has upheld the British government’s emergency ban on puberty blockers, underlining that an extensive independent study had found “very substantial risks and very narrow benefits” of the treatment. Justice Beverley Lang said the Cass Review commissioned by England’s National Health Service (NHS) concluded that gender care is an area of “remarkably weak evidence” and young people have been caught up in a “stormy social discourse.”
The group TransActual and a unnamed teenager sought to challenge the decision of former conservative government health secretary Victoria Atkins to ban prescribing hormone medications that can pause the development of puberty, under emergency powers at the end of May. The judge threw out the challenge, saying the ban was lawful. It restricts the NHS from providing the medication outside of clinical trials and prevents it from being prescribed by private suppliers.
Puberty blockers have previously been prescribed to help children with gender dysphoria by giving them more time to consider options that could include gender reassignment.
The new Labor government Health Secretary Wes Streeting welcomed the High Court ruling, saying children’s healthcare must be “evidence-led.” He has said the NHS will push forward with a clinical trial to establish more evidence on the risks and benefits of puberty blockers.
Christian campaigner for women and children Kirralie Smith wrote on her website Binary: “This is a great result for children in the UK. Australian politicians must take notice of these facts and act accordingly. It is unacceptable to submit children to experimental and harmful medication for the sake of appeasing gender activists.”
