Treatment for gender dysphoria aims to help people live the way they want to, in their preferred gender identity or as non-binary.
Some young trans, intersex, and gender non-binary people may decide to take puberty blockers after talking about it with their parents or guardian and a nurse or doctor.
I do not know about the NHS. In other countries it is required to see multiple specialists including a therapist and psychiatrist for over a year or two. It needs all of their approval stating that it is medically necessary, as well as both parents and the prescriber.
If this is not also the case in the UK, then it makes much more sense regulating healthcare rather than banning it completely even for those with obvious severe cases.
There is public concern that someone who isn’t trans might get trans healthcare. Completely overlooked is the fact that the majority of people getting trans medical treatment are in fact trans. This would be like banning any medical treatment completely because of the risk that someone may be misdiagnosed.
Don’t forget going through an unwanted puberty also has lifelong permanent effects as well as immediate self harm risk. For example, that child grows a beard, deep voice, masculine bone structure etc before finally being permitted healthcare as a woman. She will be living with the mental and physical effects of that for the rest of her life and suffering discrimination.
This is the best argument for starting early which is exactly what makes this topic so difficult and why nuanced discussion about it needs to be had rather than just calling the people transphobes who advocate for caution. If there was a way to make sure they’re not going to change their minds later then starting with the treatment as early as possible would seems like the obvious way to go, but it’s not quite that simple. And no, I’m not for blanket bans either.
Except that’s fine if they do? If you stop taking puberty blockers, you start going through puberty. This is not some magic irreversible medication or something, for the ~1% that do change their mind this isn’t an issue.
I could maybe see this argument work for gender reassignment surgery, but not for puberty blockers.
We should let healthcare experts make healthcare decisions.
Agreed. Calling someone a transphobe is almost always counterproductive. Most people aren’t, and the ones who are don’t care and see it as a compliment.
Most people just have no experience with it. They want to know that the kids are ok, but politicians have spent hundreds of millions of dollars exploiting legitimate concerns to generate outrage.
It absolutely should be regulated and usually is because there are medical safety guidelines, governments don’t want doctors being sued, and they don’t want to pay out for unnecessary care.
I just did a quick search and it looks like this is what the NHS was requiring of them before the ban:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/clinical-commissioning-policy-prescribing-of-gender-affirming-hormones.pdf