I know what you're thinking. Didn't they already do this? Well, yes and no. In the lead up to the release of the Cass Review the UK did call a halt on puberty blockers.
England's National Health Service has banned the use of puberty blockers for the treatment of gender dysphoria or gender incongruence in transgender minors...
The agency said it made the move after considering an evidence review conducted by England's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
"We have concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of puberty suppressing hormones to make the treatment routinely available at this time," an NHS spokesperson told ABC News in a statement.
That restriction, announced in March, applied to new prescriptions of puberty blockers for gender care by the National Health Service. However it did not apply to private physicians who could still prescribe the blockers for their patients. Today, the government announced a temporary ban on all such prescriptions.
Private prescriptions of puberty blockers to children will be banned in one of the Government’s last acts, it emerged on Wednesday.
No new patients under 18 would be given them if they were experiencing gender dysphoria, the Department of Health and Social Care said...
The emergency ban will be in place from June 3 to September 3 and will also apply to prescriptions written by UK private prescribers and prescribers registered in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland.
As you may know, the UK will hold elections on July 4 and, as of now, the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer is heavily favored to win. It that happens it would mean that a more liberal party will be the one deciding whether or not to extend this new ban beyond September. Up to now, both parties have embraced the Cass Review so it's possible that even Labour will find it politically difficult to end the ban.
Naturally, trans opponents of this move are upset.
The Conservatives have just banned all puberty blockers for trans kids - but will allow the NHS to prescribe the EXACT same drug to cis kids. It means that over 1,000 UK kids will be forced to DETRANSITION from June. Cruel. Kids will die. https://t.co/2fqKfeIY9Y
— India Willoughby (@IndiaWilloughby) May 29, 2024
Others are celebrating.
Thank you, Health Secretary @VictoriaAtkins
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) May 29, 2024
https://t.co/kU2ElJrK2S
Finally, while it's not directly connected to this decision, I noticed that JK Rowling has contributed an essay to a new book about why she decided to become outspoken on this issue. The Times of London published an excerpt from it today.
On the day in December 2019 that Maya [Forstater] lost her discrimination case (she’d go on to win on appeal, and gain substantial damages) I tweeted: “Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya.”
I then posted an essay on my website, elaborating on my concerns about gender identity ideology. I’ve been struck, since, by how many of the people who claim to know what I believe on this issue freely admit to never reading that essay. They don’t need to, they say, because their favourite trans influencers have already explained what I really meant. This peculiar stance seems to me to sum up the lack of critical thinking surrounding this issue, and the aversion of gender activists to exposing themselves to ideas that might shake their faith in their beloved slogans...
The thing is, those appalled by my position often fail to grasp how truly despicable I find theirs. I’ve watched “no debate” become the slogan of those who once posed as defenders of free speech. I’ve witnessed supposedly progressive men arguing that women don’t exist as an observable biological class and don’t deserve biology-based rights. I’ve listened as certain female celebrities insist that there isn’t the slightest risk to women and girls in allowing any man who self-identifies as a woman to enter single-sex spaces reserved for women, including changing rooms, bathrooms or rape shelters...
I believe that what is being done to troubled young people in the name of gender identity ideology is, indeed, a terrible medical scandal.
The US is now the outlier on this issue and not in a good way.
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