Trans youth will no longer be prescribed puberty blockers at NHS England gender identity clinics in a new “blow” to gender-affirming healthcare.
Puberty blockers are a type of medicine that prevent puberty from starting by blocking the hormones – like testosterone and oestrogen – that lead to puberty-related changes in the body. In the case of trans youth, this can delay unwanted physical changes like menstruation, breast growth, voice changes or facial hair growth.
On Tuesday (12 March), NHS England confirmed the medicine, which has been described as “life-saving” medical care for trans youth, will only be available to young people as part of clinical research trials.
The government described the move as a “landmark decision”, Sky News reported. It believed such a move is in the “best interests of the child”.
Time to start some really large clinical trials.
Which wouldn’t be a bad idea anyway, tracking long-term outcomes.
GnRH was discovered in 1971, and has been available since the '80s. We have a pretty good idea of their long term effects. There could be more about effects on transgender youth in particular, but everything done so far shows it’s safe.
It’s been around since the 80s, we already know long term outcomes.
Um, excuse me, who said 40 years was long enough? If we don’t have trials that show how people receiving these drugs turned out all the way until they died then we don’t really have long term trials, do we?
/s
It’s such a fucking cop out. Nothing will ever be good enough for some people.