The U.K. Bans Puberty Blockers
U.K. Conservatives cite the Cass Review in issuing emergency ban for minors ahead of July election.
Amid right-wing legislative moves as heated as any in the U.S., Britain’s Conservative government, via the Dept. of Health and Social Care, closed out May with an emergency ban on drugs collectively referred to as “puberty blockers,” as reported by the U.K.’s LGBT Them news site.
In announcing its ban, in effect through Sept. 3, the government stated, “During this period no new patients under 18 will be prescribed these medicines for the purposes of puberty suppression in those experiencing gender dysphoria on incongruence under the care of these prescribers.”
The government further noted that “the [National Health Service] stopped the routine prescription of puberty blocker treatments to under-18s following the Cass Review into gender identity services.”
The Cass Review is named for Dr. Hilary Cass, a British pediatrician, who drafted the report.
Among her recommendations is that providing puberty blockers to anyone younger than 18 should be done so only with “extreme caution.”
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health and United States Professional Association for Transgender Health released a mid-May statement highly critical of the Cass Review.
Their statement reads, in part, “The Cass Review appears to be an outlier, ignoring more than three decades of clinical experience in this area as well as existing evidence showing the benefits of hormonal interventions on the mental health and quality of life of gender diverse young people.”
The 2024 United Kingdom general election is set for July 4. According to recent Ipsos polling, the Labour Party leads the incumbent Conservatives by 20 points.
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