Wes Streeting pushes ahead with NHS puberty blockers clinical trial as high court rules ban lawful
IndependentJul 28
UK Court Upholds Ban on Puberty Blockers
Above: Trans rights activists take part in a protest against the ban on hormone blockers on April 20, 2024 in London, England. Image copyright: Carl Court/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
A high court has ruled that the ban on prescribing puberty blockers to children with gender dysphoria in England, Scotland, and Wales instituted in May is lawful, saying that there was "powerful scientific evidence" in favor of the government's order.
The ban was spurred by the conclusions reached by pediatrician Hilary Cass regarding the available evidence for puberty blockers. The "Cass Report" [also "Cass Review" in some sources] found that the studies in support of puberty blockers were of low quality and had "low certainty" results.
The Spin
Right narrative
The house of cards that is "youth gender medicine" is surely crumbling. As revealed by the Cass Review, there is a shocking dearth of high-quality evidence for puberty blockers, which flies in the face of the repeated assurances made by the media about their efficacy. This court upheld common sense and kept untested medicine out of the hands of vulnerable children. The court shut down the lie that this experimental medicine is safe and effective.
Left narrative
The healthcare needs of an incredibly vulnerable population have been made into a political football, and we seem to have forgotten that the lives of real children are being affected. When treating a young patient with gender dysphoria, the course of treatment ought to be determined by the doctors and the family, not by politicians. Puberty blockers can help a small group of patients, and a tool needed to ensure their quality of life cannot be taken away wantonly.