England's top health authority just came out against puberty blockers for children
Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonists, also called GnRHa drugs, have long been used to chemically castrate sex offenders.
In recent years, these sex offender drugs were rebranded as puberty blockers and offered to confused children — despite ample evidence that such treatments create sexless adults, deplete victims' bone density, hamper cognitive development, and produce a myriad of adverse emotional effects.
While these transmogrifying treatments remain legal in American blue states, across the Atlantic, resistance is growing among some early adopters. That's certainly the case in the United Kingdom, where England's top health authority has pumped the brakes on the victimization of children captive to the notion that their sex and gender are somehow misaligned.
National Health Service England confirmed Tuesday that minors will no longer be prescribed puberty blockers at so-called gender identity clinics.
NHS England has been working up to this decision for years, having commissioned an independent expert review of gender identity services for minors in September 2020.
The health service figured it was prudent to pursue such a review in light of the massive spike in referrals for minors to the Gender Identity Development Service run by the scandal-plagued and soon-to-be shuttered Tavistock clinic and the Portman NHS Foundation Trust.
Whereas there were 250 referrals to the NHS' gender clinic in between 2011 and 2012, that number skyrocketed to over 5,000 between 2021 and 2022.
NHS England also noted at the outset of the review that "a significant number" of children seeking puberty blockers were mentally compromised and presenting with "other mental health needs and risky behaviors," prompting careful consideration and additional research.
A policy document dated March 12 states, "Puberty suppressing hormones (PSH) are not available as a routine commissioning treatment option for treatment of children and young people who have gender incongruence / gender dysphoria."
The document notes that "[g]ender atypical behavior is common among young children and may be part of normal development. ... Children who meet the criteria for gender incongruence / gender dysphoria may or may not continue to experience the conflict between their physical gender and the one with which they identify into adolescence and adulthood."
In addition to recognizing that the supposed problem puberty blockers are supposed to resolve is often just a fleeting fad, the NHS noted that puberty blockers don't do what LGBT activists claim they do.
The NHS-commissioned review found that across nine observational studies, "there was no statistically significant difference in gender dysphoria, mental health, body image and psychosocial functioning in children and adolescents treated with GnRHA."
This finding resonates with the explosive Finnish study published last month in the esteemed journal BMJ Mental Health that found sex-change medical interventions "do not have an impact on suicide risk."
Extra to noting that puberty blockers effectively don't help, the NHS noted that they can actually do considerable harm: "GnRHa may reduce the expected increase in lumbar or femoral bone density during puberty."
"We have concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of PSH to make the treatment routinely available at this time," concluded NHS England.
This announcement came just days after leaked internal documents from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health showed proponents of so-called gender-affirming care privately admit that sex-change medical interventions are often unethical and unscientific.
The Independent reported that the NHS will be rolling out two new services, one in London and the other in Liverpool. Rather than sterilize children, these clinics will provide patients with access to mental health and pediatric health experts, "resulting in a holistic approach to care."
The Conservative government applauded the decision.
Health Minister and parliamentarian Maria Caulfield said she welcomed "this groundbreaking change as children's safety and well-being are paramount."
Caulfield told the Independent, "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."
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