Children will no longer be prescribed puberty blockers at gender identity clinics, NHS England has confirmed.
The government said it welcomed the “landmark decision”, adding it would help ensure care is based on evidence and is in the “best interests of the child”.
The NHS England policy document, published on Tuesday, said: “We have concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of (puberty blockers) to make the treatment routinely available at this time.”
Let me ask you this. If the puberty blockers were essentially a pause button, how would you feel? If given them, instead of experiencing puberty at, say, 13, you (as a potential trans person) can take the blockers for however long until everyone is sure of which way you want to go, and then you can do that.
To my laymans understanding of puberty blockers, this is essentially how they work. Obviously, there are some risks with delayed development, but compared to other more invasive measures, this one is relatively benign.
Honestly the biggest issue with transitioning is puberty. Once you hit that line, it’s a lot harder to do the work necessary. It’s still doable, but I think anyone who has tried to transition post-puberty wishes they could have done it sooner. There are opportunity costs on either side.