(RepublicanReport.org) – Several Republican-led states have taken action to protect children from undergoing potentially dangerous medical procedures and treatments related to their so-called gender dysphoria or incongruence, technical terms meaning an individual experiences discomfort related to a clash between their perceived gender and their birth sex. So far, there hasn’t been a federal response to this issue, but health authorities in England recently banned future prescriptions of puberty blockers to minors.
On March 12, the English branch of the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) issued a new policy regarding the continued use of puberty-suppressing hormones (PSH) for minors and young people claiming they suffer from gender dysphoria.
The policy statement advised that after carefully reviewing data associated with the use of PSH, officials with the NHS England “concluded that there [wasn’t] enough evidence” related to the clinical efficacy or safety of the use of those blockers to make that treatment option “routinely available at this time.”
In short, NHS England determined that the known evidence didn’t support a finding that using hormone blockers was safe or effective. As a result, the service decided to bar doctors and other health professionals from continuing to prescribe their use for children.
NHS England’s new policy relied on information it received from a study it commissioned in 2020 with the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to review published data and studies on gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs (GnRHa), the technical classification for puberty blockers. Those drugs prevent the body from producing sex hormones children need to develop the proper anatomical structure to grow into healthy adults.
NICE hasn’t completed its study. However, NHS England recently issued a report detailing the results of a parallel study and review conducted by the former head of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, Dr. Hilary Cass. That 85-page document also determined that the current data is insufficient to support a finding that hormone blockers were effective or safe for children and young people.
Whether or not the NHS branches for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland will adopt the same policy remains unclear.
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