Last month, England sent shockwaves around the world when its National Health Service (NHS) announced that children will no longer be prescribed puberty blockers, which Townhall covered. Predictably, left-wing activists were outraged about the decision, as they are about any entity that prohibits children from “changing their gender” at a young age.
Now, it appears that the NHS will be taking it a step further.
This week, The Telegraph reported that the NHS will review all transgender treatments after a landmark report said that the evidence for allowing children and young people to change their gender is built on “shaky foundations.”
According to the outlet, Dr. Hilary Cass, a pediatrician, published a review into the support and treatment offered to children who think they’re born with the wrong gender. Reportedly, she said that these situations should be handled with “extreme care” and that doctors should “exercise extreme caution” (via The Telegraph):
It also calls for an end to the prescribing of any powerful hormone drugs to under 18s; warns children who change gender may regret it; finds that many have experienced trauma, neglect and abuse; and says there is no “good evidence” on the long-term outcomes of the treatments that have been given to children.
The review warns of pressures on families, with parents feeling forced to allow their children to transition so they are not labelled transphobic amid a “toxic” debate.
Dr Cass declares that “gender medicine for children and young people is built on shaky foundations”.
She says: “The reality is that we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress.”
In response, the NHS is to review all transgender treatment it provides, including to adults, and treatment for any new patients aged 16 and 17 seeking to change gender at adult clinics will immediately be paused.
In 2022, the NHS issued guidance on treating children and young people with gender dysphoria, the condition where someone feels that their gender does not align with their biological sex. In the guidance, they said that physicians should be open to “exploring all developmentally appropriate options” for children who are showing signs of gender dysphoria, keeping in mind that “this may be a transient phase.”
The report added that “social transitioning” should not be seen as a “neutral act” due to the impact it makes on a child’s psychology. Social transitioning includes going by a different name, using “preferred pronouns” and dressing like the opposite gender. In some cases, they will use bathrooms that align with their gender identity instead of their biological sex.
“The clinical approach has to be mindful of the risks of an inappropriate gender transition and the difficulties that the child may experience in returning to the original gender role upon entering puberty if the gender incongruence does not persist into adolescence,” the report stated.
