'Experimenting on Children': UK Decision to Block Puberty Blockers for Minors Could Impact US
New questions are emerging about controversial transgender medical experiments on minors in America after the United Kingdom reached a major decision on the issue.
States have been battling over the issue of restricting gender transition medicine and procedures for minors. Now the U.K'.s National Health Service has announced it will no longer prescribe puberty-blocking drugs for children. That decision banning puberty blockers for kids followed an independent review citing safety concerns and limited research on long-term effects.
The NHS concluded: "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."
Former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss applauded the ban. "I'm delighted that the health service is now saying no under-18s can be prescribed these drugs," Truss told Fox News.
Here in the U.S., a recent study shows nearly 20 percent of all people identifying as transgender are between the ages of 13 and 17. That's close to 300,000 children.
The number of kids known to be on puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones has more than doubled in 4 years from nearly 2,400 in 2017 to more than 5,000 in 2021 according to America First.
Sarah Parshall Perry of the Heritage Foundation blames gender ideology for fueling the rise.
"We're seeing this increase because young people are vulnerable to the impacts of peer pressure, social media, cultural elites, and again, what they are hearing from their commander-in-chief and the individuals and positions of power in this country," she said.
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Effects are linked to poor mental health among children struggling with gender confusion. Research also found that 34% of trans-identifying youth have experienced a decline in mental health while taking the drugs, according to a 2023 study from the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy.
Physicians say other major concerns include sterility, lifelong dependence on medication, and anguish of regret.
Nathanael Blake of the Ethics and Public Policy Center told us, "They are experimenting on children with no real understanding of what they're doing... with regard to sterility, that is a real problem and that is inevitable for some of these treatment pathways."
More than 20 Republican-led states have adopted laws restricting medical intervention for children with gender dysphoria.
"We've seen many of these bans enacted at the state level – 23 bans for procedures, cross-sex hormones, and puberty blockers for minors under the age of 18. And I hope now that this will encourage more states to pass bans for these procedures under the age of 18," Perry said.
Back in Europe, more countries – such as Norway, Finland, and Sweden – are following the U.K.'s lead, and Blake predicts that trend could soon include the U.S.
"I think it will happen. I don't think that it will be quite the same as in the U.K.," Blake said, "but I think all it may take will be one or two big lawsuits winning. And if there are major damages awarded to some of the people who have been hurt by gender transition, that might break the industry, which has simply been able to profit off of injuring people and has not yet been held accountable for that."
MORE Texas Woman Sues Medical Groups for $1M Over Physical Disfigurement After Teen Trans Surgery
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