Althouse: "Britain is to ban indefinitely the use of puberty blockers for young people under 18 with gender dysphoria, except in clinical trials..."

December 12, 2024

"Britain is to ban indefinitely the use of puberty blockers for young people under 18 with gender dysphoria, except in clinical trials..."

"... the government said on Wednesday, making permanent a set of temporary restrictions put in place earlier this year.... The country’s National Health Service stopped the routine prescription of puberty blocker treatments to anyone under 18 as treatment for gender dysphoria following a landmark review into gender identity services undertaken by Hilary Cass, one of the country’s top pediatricians. Her report, published in April, concluded that gender medicine was operating on 'shaky foundations' when it came to the evidence for some medical treatments, including prescribing hormones to pause puberty or to change physical characteristics.... Young people who already had a valid prescription for puberty blockers before a certain date this year — depending on where they live — will be able to continue to receive them...."

From "U.K. Bans Puberty Blockers for Teens Indefinitely/A freeze placed this year on their use to treat gender dysphoria will remain in place for young people under 18, except in clinical trials, Britain’s government said" (NYT).

41 comments:

Gusty Winds said...: Wow. Britain finally does something sane in 2024.; 12/12/24, 9:23 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: Progressives: "We need to look at what our betters in Europe are doing and copy that."

The sane: "You mean like blocking puberty blockers for people younger than 18?"

Progressives: "NOT LIKE THAT, YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!"; 12/12/24, 9:24 AM
Enigma said...: People will DIE! Trans people will DIE! Suicides will skyrocket! PEOPLE WILL DIE! Said the folks who gained access to free surgery and new drugs just a decade ago.

So much has been lost with the decline of traditional families and social support.; 12/12/24, 9:27 AM
gilbar said...: Serious Questions..
Does "gender affirming therapy" reduce suicides?
Would 'they' be better off trying to LIVE with who they ARE?; 12/12/24, 9:31 AM
tim maguire said...: Why are they honoring existing prescriptions? Do those kids matter less?

What about the clinical trials--do those kids matter less too?; 12/12/24, 9:35 AM
Breezy said...: I hope American parents struggling with children with gender dysphoria take heed, based on this UK decision. Too bad the US on the whole didn’t do this first.; 12/12/24, 9:46 AM
Enigma said...: See the ever trustful CDC on suicides, AFAIK the opiate addictions of the 1990s caused the worst increases. There is no evidence of a downtrend.

Select the dropdown for suicide: https://wisqars.cdc.gov/fatal-injury-trends/; 12/12/24, 9:49 AM
Greg The Class Traitor said...: Yet it will 6-3 when SCOTUS rules that Tennessee has the Constitutional right to do the same thing.

Because the American Left are both insane, and evil; 12/12/24, 9:52 AM
Peachy said...: except in clinical trials?; 12/12/24, 9:55 AM
mindnumbrobot said...: Her report, published in April, concluded that gender medicine was operating on 'shaky foundations'...

You don't need to be a doctor to figure that out.; 12/12/24, 10:05 AM
Dixcus said...: You gotta be 18 to take puberty blockers.

Ummmm ...; 12/12/24, 10:13 AM
Dixcus said...: We all just need to understand that we are the baddies now.

We are the Nazi's who will be tried one day.

Then hung.; 12/12/24, 10:14 AM
Dixcus said...: Pretty sure the Munchausen Moms are taking note.; 12/12/24, 10:15 AM
Dixcus said...: There were a small group of Germans who sounded alarms in much the same way right before the gassings started.; 12/12/24, 10:16 AM
Enigma said...: I'm guessing that they would do this because half-treated transgender people will look very, very, very odd to others. They won't resemble either a bio male or bio female, rather, a mutant or an accident victim.; 12/12/24, 10:17 AM
mikee said...: My spouse, a pediatrician, has prescribed gender blocking drugs to prevent premature puberty, in kids as young as three. You stop the estrogen and testosterone production because they stop other aspects of normal growth, such as full bone growth. Gender dysphoria patients, she refers them to therapists, as they need to understand their dysphoria before anything else. Seeking to be special via gender dysphoria seems to be a current fad, among both kids and even moreso their parents.; 12/12/24, 10:21 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: Munchausen Moms are taking note.
Kentanji Brown-Jackson is taking L's.; 12/12/24, 10:23 AM
tim maguire said...: Maybe, but the whole rationale for using these untested drugs was that the effects are reversible--that kids could stop taking them and return to their normal development. Whether correct or not, that was their argument.; 12/12/24, 10:23 AM
The Vault Dweller said...: The current government of the UK is far-left. If a far-left government is allowing this to happen, it is a sign that the political calculus surrounding trans-issues has shifted. I think other trans folks have sensed this too, because some like Briana Wu have been trying to stake out a new, more defensible position, where kids are off limits, women's sports are protected, and private areas for women are limited to women and trans folks who have fully (as possible) transitioned. While I fully believe that transgenderism is a mental health issue and dealing with it with social and physical transition is harmful to both the trans person and society, I do feel badly for these trans folks. They are about to be abandoned by people they thought supported them. Once people no longer score social virtue points by supporting trans issues, most of that support will vanish. They will come to realize that most of the support they did previously see was, to use their side's term, performative.; 12/12/24, 10:47 AM
Jupiter said...: "... except in clinical trials." Remind me. Do they do clinical trials on strychnine?; 12/12/24, 10:59 AM
gilbar said...: Dixcus has a problem with You gotta be 18 to take puberty blockers..

How about we call them what they ARE?
You gotta be 18 to take chemical castration .; 12/12/24, 11:02 AM
Enigma said...: @Dixcus: People sometimes do change when they are told they are baddies.

IIRC, Gorbachev said that Ronald Reagan's "Evil Empire" speech was a wake-up call in the USSR. They'd lived through Stalin's evil and Brezhnev's stagnation so "evil" struck a nerve. Also, the Martin Luther Protestant reformation led to a Catholic counterreformation five hundred years ago.; 12/12/24, 11:04 AM
PM said...: Sanity. First finish puberty, then undo-send.
.; 12/12/24, 11:04 AM
mccullough said...: When the Muslims take over this won’t be an issue.; 12/12/24, 11:05 AM
Ambrose said...: Bad drafting. They’re not banned indefinitely; they are banned until the patient turns 18. Now, I know the use of indefinitely means something else in this context, but headline drafting should avoid ambiguities.; 12/12/24, 11:10 AM
Derve Swanson said...: I wouldn't worry about "support".
Trans people are some of the most indepenent, "alonest" people I have ever known. They want to be left alone and able to access medical care, not "supported" because your support is pretty much worthless. We do for ourselves, always have. Hit ann's tipjar for giving you this safe space to express your hate and ignorance of Others. WE see you, and we see her too. Your day will come...; 12/12/24, 11:39 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: The funny/sad thing about this is that J.K. Rowling's bulldog stand probably had more to do with this than any input from the medical profession. The doctors here are just a cover for backing away from a politically unpopular policy. It's a hail of bullshit, coming and going.; 12/12/24, 12:01 PM
Christopher B said...: as treatment for gender dysphoria

Important distinction.; 12/12/24, 12:04 PM
Christopher B said...: I don't know if anybody is talking about it, and I've certainly not read anything but I wouldn't be surprised if somebody eventually revealed NHS actuaries ran the numbers on the potential lifetime cost of slicing and dicing the number of pre-teens expected to present with Rapid On-set Gender Dysphoria, and decided they really didn't want to put those numbers in the budget.; 12/12/24, 12:10 PM
Narayanan said...: have Brits fixed their national "Dental Dysphoria" problem?
- asking for Austin Powers!!; 12/12/24, 12:22 PM
Enigma said...: Half of them are evil but all are insane. But, they have different mental health issues.

The evil ones are psychopathic predators in the "dark triad" or "dark quad." See Antisocial personality disorder, Narcissistic personality disorder, etc. These are aggressive politicans with a sense of lifelong entitlement, but have not lost. They may know their ideas are nuts, but want to rule. See Jim Jones and his causing the deaths of 1,000 people in his cult. "It is better to rule in hell than serve in heaven."

The rest of the left are frightened, panicky, untrained, stuntended, and/or dependent folks suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, anxiety disorders, or developmental disorders. They seek guidance (or jump to the first thing they see) and are willing to do anything it takes to survive in the company of pure evil. See what happened to rich girl Patty Hearst when she was with the revolutionay SLA. See the Jonestown dead.; 12/12/24, 1:02 PM
Gravel said...: Seen on X (from memory): "We are now less sane than a country that eats baked beans on white bread for breakfast."; 12/12/24, 1:42 PM
Jerry said...: By 18, you'd hope a lot of the 'all my friends are doing it' stuff from middle school will have resolved it - and the Trans-by-Proxy fools who think having their kid be trans at 5-10 will give them social credit will be stymied.

You want to do this when you're an 'adult'? Go right ahead.; 12/12/24, 2:47 PM
n.n said...: Either you're born or groomed as transgender (e.g. homosexual), or wait until you reach adulthood to make an informed choice with forward-looking consequences and personal responsibility.; 12/12/24, 2:56 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: And by 18, in many, if not most, cases, hormones have calmed down, and brain growth has caught up. Much of gender dysphoria appears to be just adjusting to your natural hormones.; 12/12/24, 3:05 PM
gilbar said...: of course, the Dominion of Canada is STILL owned and Operated by and for the King, and the King (technically) still runs Britain (even though he is a German, and Not a Scot)..
So the Brits are STILL f*cked up; 12/12/24, 3:23 PM
tcrosse said...: Well, it's one way to stop your son jerking off.; 12/12/24, 3:54 PM
n.n said...: Mengele... Levine's Dreams of, delayed by Loving. Surely, a double-edged scalpel.; 12/12/24, 5:14 PM
Jamie said...: I'm guessing it was a legislative compromise. There have already been an untold number (of thousands, I've heard) of kids who have gone down this path; what's the harm in a few (hundred) more?

Of course I wish it were different.; 12/12/24, 8:47 PM
Jamie said...: I should add that the people with either the unrealistic fantasies or the malignant-narcissistic desire to get people to go along with false statements of their fantasies are also disordered and need help.; 12/12/24, 9:11 PM
Tina Trent said...: The most mentally ill, naive, and in denial people I know are psychotherapists and psychologists.; 12/13/24, 6:03 AM