The United Kingdom’s emergency ban on prescribing puberty blockers to children is legal, according to a Monday ruling by the country’s High Court of Justice.
The temporary ban was implemented by the country’s former Conservative government, which was ousted from power earlier this month. It limits the use of the drugs, which prevent a child from undergoing puberty, to clinical trials only.
The country’s National Health Service (NHS) cannot prescribe puberty blockers to juvenile patients under the ban.
United Kingdom activist group TransActual and an anonymous minor challenged the ban, arguing it was a misuse of the emergency process. Justice Beverley Lang’s ruling, however, cited a review of puberty blockers by NHS which found little evidence to support claims the medication is beneficial for children.
“The findings of the Cass Review about the very substantial risks and very narrow benefits associated with the use of puberty blockers, and its recommendation that in future they should be prescribed in a clinical trial, and not routinely prescribed, amounted to powerful scientific evidence in support of restrictions on the supply of puberty blockers on the grounds that they were potentially harmful,” a press release on the verdict reads.
“The fact that the Cass Review’s findings and recommendations had been acted upon by NHS England, the Royal College of GPs and the General Pharmacy Council gave them considerable further weight.”
TransActual vowed to appeal the decision, citing the government’s lack of justification for the ban.
“This is a disappointing result,” TransActual Director for Healthcare Chay Brown said. “Defense evidence makes clear that they decided on an emergency ban first and sought ways to justify it second.”
“The judgement leans heavily on the widely discredited Cass review,” Brown continued. “This – never forget! – is the work of someone with no experience of trans healthcare. It excluded trans researchers from the review team, on grounds of potential bias, while including several clearly identified anti-trans academics; and it was led by an individual appointed from a shortlist of one – and since elevated to the House of Lords by the outgoing Conservative administration.”
In March, NHS England banned the use of puberty blockers to treat children diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The agency noted a lack of evidence to support claims such medications are safe for long-term use.
“We have concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of PSH to make the treatment routinely available at this time,” NHS England wrote.
