Summarised by Centrist
Developments over the course of 2023 and into 2024 suggest a growing pushback against gender transitioning for children as one country after another takes steps to block the blockers.
The shine is coming off of puberty blockers. Once almost universally touted as safe and reversible, countries around the world are curtailing their use, citing safety concerns.
French senators have proposed a bill to halt the skyrocketing use of puberty blockers, while the NHS has stopped their routine prescription in gender clinics in England and Wales.
Denmark has shifted focus to therapeutic counselling over prescribing blockers for youth with gender dysphoria, while the Netherlands has initiated research on the health outcomes of children given puberty blockers.
Also, Norway’s healthcare board has raised serious concerns about evidence-based guidelines for treating gender dysphoria in children. Meanwhile, in the US, 22 states have passed laws protecting children from routine medicalisation of gender distress.
It’s also notable that in 2022, New Zealand’s Ministry of Health stopped listing puberty blockers as being “safe and fully reversible”.
