Puberty Blockers Will No Longer be Prescribed to Youth in England

Kendall McClain (she/her) is an editorial intern from the Department…

Puberty Blockers will no longer be prescribed to youth in England thanks to a new ruling, despite outcried from the trans community.

The NHS (National Health Service) in England will no longer prescribe routine puberty blockers to transgender youth. This decision was made as allegedly there was “not enough evidence” proving puberty blockers are safe for the public and now will only be used for research purposes.

Puberty blockers help address gender dysphoria. A study tested the difference between teenagers who received medication and psychological support compared to solely psychological support and “found that those who received pubertal suppression in addition to psychological support had superior global functioning, measured by the Children’s Global Assessment Scale when compared with those who received psychological support alone.”

There is just one clinic in England devoted to gender-affirming care for minors, and it is now being shut down. This clinic is to be replaced with two centers focused on a “holistic and localized” approach to healthcare for trans youth.

The halting of puberty-blocking prescriptions is harmful to England’s transgender youth, as these prescriptions work to block estrogen and testosterone, minimizing the effects of puberty. This medication can stop periods from occurring, minimize breast growth, facial hair growth, and voice deepening. These effects can be gender-affirming and incredibly beneficial to adolescents’ mental health.

A common rhetoric against the use of puberty blockers is the idea that the child will regret it when they are older. Not only are the physical effects not permanent, but 98% of teenagers who were prescribed the medication continued to use them. Puberty blockers are reversible and grant adolescents more time to understand or affirm their gender identity. This crackdown on puberty blockers rids the youth of a making their own choice regarding their body and increases gender dysphoria amongst trans youth.