Puberty blockers have been banned for minors in England.

It comes as the main gender clinic is set to close at the end of this month with two new services taking on gender incongruent children.

Instead of ‘affirmation’ pathways that include drugs that cause irreversible harm, children will now be offered treatment “by clinical experts in neurodiversity, paediatrics and mental health, “resulting in a holistic approach to care”.

Referrals have risen from 250 per year in 2011 to over 5,000 in 2021-2022.

The government welcomed the NHS’s decision. 

“Ending the routine prescription of puberty blockers will help ensure that care is based on evidence, expert clinical opinion and is in the best interests of the child,” said junior health minister Maria Caulfield. 

The decision follows a public consultation on the issue. 

An independent review commissioned by the NHS in England in 2020 has also looked at gender identity services for children under 18. 

An interim report published in February 2022 by review lead Hilary Cass pointed to a lack of long-term evidence on the outcomes of children and young people prescribed puberty blocking medication by the GIDS clinic run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, which is closing at the end of March.

GIDS, the Gender Identity Development Service, which is due to close at the end of March, had not collected routine and consistent data “which means it is not possible to accurately track the outcomes and pathways that children and young people take through the service”, Cass said.

Australian gender clinics insist that the effects of puberty blockers are reversible and that WPATH provides gold standard guidelines for ‘affirmation’ treatments. Both claims have been well and truly debunked.

Puberty blockers cause irreversible harm such as infertility, zero sexual function, bone and brain development issues.

The recently released WPATH Files reveal that the guidelines are anything but gold standard.

It is time Australian politicians took note of the UK’s decision along with the Nordic countries that have banned the use of puberty blockers on minors. Children deserve safeguarding, not experimental or harmful treatments in the name of progressive activism.