Children will no longer be prescribed puberty blockers at gender identity clinics, NHS England has confirmed.
The government said it welcomed the “landmark decision”, adding it would help ensure care is based on evidence and is in the “best interests of the child”.
The NHS England policy document, published on Tuesday, said: “We have concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of (puberty blockers) to make the treatment routinely available at this time.”
“The most stupid and evil thing you can think of” is being about 98% supportive?
I’m well aware of what the treatment entails. Doesn’t change my belief that we are selectively ignoring risks and possible issues here that we don’t for less ideologically charged subjects teenagers dabble in.
We don’t allow kids to get tattoos, piercings, don’t allow them to skip school, don’t allow them to go out late at night. We keep them from talking to strangers, from opening bank accounts, from doing any real business actually. We keep them safe from drugs and alcohol, in many parts from the concept of sexuality in general.
Why? Because teenagers are idiots in the most confusing and uncertain stage of their lives. And we know they can’t grasp many of those choices yet, so we keep them from making them before they are fully grown.
Why is something that goes way beyond the scope of those minor transgressions we shield them from considered a choice someone at that age can make without the risk of severe, lifelong regrets?
You admit that anything to do with gender dysphoria is more important than a minor transgression. You are right, it is more important than a tattoo, because the stakes are higher if you refuse help.
a long-standing and intense pattern of gender nonconformity or gender dysphoria.
Gender dysphoria emerged or worsened with the onset of puberty.
Coexisting psychological, medical or social problems, if any, are stable enough to begin treatment.
The adolescent has given informed consent.
Many health professionals and, where possible, parents are involved in the process.
Delaying puberty does not mean that the child has to change gender, it means giving them more time to think about it until they are of age, giving them the time to live as their preferred gender and find out if it is the right one or if they want to stay with their birth gender. At any time the child can decide to stop taking the medication and will go through puberty like any other child, just a bit late (which happens naturally for some children).
It is exactly the opposite of what you say it is. It avoids the damage of a false puberty, gives time for decision making and time to “grasp the choice and consequences” and gives them time to grow up and make the permanent decision later. Everything you say is basically pro puberty blocker.
You’re mostly comparing legal and financial ramifications to self-identity. I trust a teenager more to tell me who they are than to pay back a car loan.
From the little research I’ve done, puberty-blockers don’t have long-term effects and most kids aren’t on them more than a few years. This is widely agreed upon in the medical community. There is non-biased research done on this for decades you can read up on.
Yes, being a teenager is weird and confusing. Even more so, if you feel like you live in the wrong body, I imagine. That’s the exact reason puberty blockers are effective, by giving a teen a little more time to figure out their identity, without it being rushed or compounded by the effects of puberty.