High Court judge in the UK upholds the government ban on puberty blockers

LONDON (AP) — A High Court judge on Monday upheld the British government’s emergency ban on puberty blockers, saying a study that found “very substantial risks and very narrow benefits” of the treatment supported the restriction as potentially being harmful.

Justice Beverley Lang said a review commissioned by England’s National Health Service concluded that gender care is an area of “remarkably weak evidence” and young people have been caught up in a “stormy social discourse.”

The group TransActual and a youth who cannot be named under a court order sought to challenge the decision of former Health secretary Victoria Atkins to ban prescribing hormones that can pause the development of puberty. They are sometimes prescribed to help children with gender dysphoria by giving them more time to consider options that could include gender reassignment.

The judge threw out the challenge, saying the ban was lawful. The ban restricts the NHS from providing the medication outside of clinical trials and prevents it from being prescribed by private suppliers.

The NHS stopped prescribing puberty blockers last year, saying there was not enough evidence about the benefits and harms.

Chay Brown, healthcare director for TransActual, said the government decided to ban the blockers and then found ways to justify it.

“We are seriously concerned about the safety and welfare of young trans people in the U.K.,” Brown said. “Over the last few years, they have come to view the U.K. medical establishment as paying lip service to their needs and all too happy to weaponize their very existence in pursuit of a now-discredited culture war.”

While the ban was put in place by the Conservative government that was ousted from power earlier this month, the new Labour government may make it permanent.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he welcomed the ruling, though he said he was treading cautiously. He said he was working with the NHS to set up a clinical trial on puberty blockers.

“Children’s healthcare must be evidence-led,” Streeting said. “We must therefore act cautiously and with care when it comes to this vulnerable group of young people.”