The publicly funded health service in England has decided it will not routinely offer puberty-blocking drugs to children at gender identity clinics, saying more evidence is needed about the potential benefits and harms.
The National Health Service said Friday that “outside of a research setting, puberty suppressing hormones should not be routinely commissioned for children and adolescents.”
Hormone blockers are drugs that can pause the development of puberty, and are sometimes prescribed to help children with gender dysphoria by giving them more time to consider their options. The NHS said doctors at the new clinics still would be allowed to prescribe the drugs outside of a research setting “on an exceptional, case by case basis” and subject to approval from a national team of medical experts.
In 2020, England’s High Court ruled that children under 16 were unlikely to be able to give informed consent to medical treatment involving drugs that delay puberty. The court said that because of the experimental nature of the drugs, clinics should seek court authorization before starting such treatment.
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