NewsRescue
The British National Health Service (NHS) declared on Tuesday that it will no longer provide puberty-blocking medications to youngsters at so-called ‘gender identity’ clinics. The conservative government in the United Kingdom applauded the “landmark decision.”
Multiple British media sites covered the decision, which followed a four-year public consultation and examination of the activities of the NHS’ Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), which is based at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust in London.
The Tavistock clinic was forced to close in 2022 after investigators discovered that its doctors were “rushing” youngsters as young as seven into experimental and life-altering sex-change procedures.
Puberty inhibiting medicines prevent the body from experiencing the regular physical changes associated withand prevent the development of facial hair; in girls they slow down the development of breasts and prevent menstruation. Patients who take puberty blockers often follow this treatment with cross-sex hormone therapy in an attempt to change their gender. puberty. In boys, they limit the growth of the penis and testicle.
While proponents of these treatments argue that the alterations are reversible, puberty blockers have been associated to brittle bones and deformed genitals in individuals, often decades after therapy has stopped. A 2020 court ruling prohibited the prescription of these medications to children under the age of 16, but the decision was overturned the following year.
Health Minister Maria Caulfield stated that the government hailed Tuesday’s “landmark decision,” adding that “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.”
Following the NHS announcement, puberty blockers will only be given to youngsters as part of clinical trials.
Although the Tavistock clinic is scheduled to close, the NHS will open two new GIDS clinics in April, one in London and one in Liverpool. Approximately 250 patients from the Tavistock clinic will be relocated to the new facilities when they open.
The number of youngsters being sent to GIDS has increased dramatically in recent years. In 2009-2010, just 100 children were treated at GIDS centres; by 2021-2022, that number had risen to 5,000.