The UK’s High Court has upheld a ban on puberty blockers for children, following a decision made by former Health Secretary Victoria Atkins last May to halt the use of these hormonal drugs under emergency powers.
The push against transgender procedures for minors in the UK has intensified in recent months. Earlier this summer, the Cass Review, a report commissioned by England’s National Health Service (NHS), was released and highlighted the risks of these procedures. The report recommended halting the use of puberty blockers for minors and consequently, the NHS implemented an emergency ban on these drugs.
“Outside of a research setting, puberty-suppressing hormones should not be routinely commissioned for children and adolescents,” the NHS determined last summer.
In response to the ban, a transgender advocacy group sued the government, calling the decision a “cruel new element of the war on trans youth.” However, the High Court has now ruled that the ban can remain in effect.
The judge cited the Cass Review in the decision, concluding that puberty blockers pose “very substantial risks and very narrow benefits.” Justice Beverley Lang noted that medical intervention on children identifying as transgender is based on “remarkably weak evidence” and that young people have been caught in a “stormy social discourse.”
“Children’s healthcare must be evidence-led,” explained Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who applauded the ruling. “We must therefore act cautiously and with care when it comes to this vulnerable group of young people.”
Detransitioner and activist Chloe Cole also applauded the UK’s decision, posting on X with the headline of the news and stating, “Goodbye puberty blockers… it really really sucked knowing you!”
In the US, at least half of all states have implemented some form of restrictions on transgender surgeries and hormone treatments for children with gender dysphoria or who identify as transgender. However, there is no federal ban on these procedures, despite increasing evidence that they can cause irreversible damage to minors.
