A British high court upheld the U.K.’s ban on puberty blockers, ruling that the ban is lawful.
An organization called TransActual and an unnamed youth filed the lawsuit against the government, claiming the ban would “irreparably damage people’s health, wellbeing and life chances…” The group accused England’s NHS of departing from “international medical practice to pursue a political agenda.”
Justice Beverley Lang wrote in the ruling that there is “remarkably weak evidence” for transgender medical care. Lang added that young people have become involved in the issue due to “stormy social discourse.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting welcomed the ruling, although he noted leaders must “act cautiously.”
“Children’s healthcare must be evidence-led,” Streeting said. “Dr Cass’s review found there was insufficient evidence that puberty blockers are safe and effective for children with gender dysphoria and gender incongruence. We must therefore act cautiously and with care when it comes to this vulnerable group of young people.”
He added that he will be “setting up a clinical trial to establish the evidence on puberty blockers,” emphasizing that he wants “trans people in our country to feel safe, accepted, and able to live with freedom and dignity.”
Earlier this year, Dr. Hilary Cass, Chair of the Independent Review of gender identity services for children and young people, submitted a report to England’s National Health Service (NHS) regarding gender-related medical care for minors.
She wrote that “gender care” for minors is an area of “remarkably weak evidence, and yet results of studies are exaggerated or misrepresented by people on all sides of the debate to support their viewpoint.” Cass explained, “The reality is that we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress.”
