The ban on children being prescribed puberty blockers was upheld as lawful on Monday, rejecting challenges from a pro-transgenderism group.
In a blow to the woke transgender movement, the emergency legislation introduced by former Health Secretary Victoria Atkins in May to prohibit children from being given life-altering drugs designed to stunt puberty was upheld by by Britain’s High Court, the BBC reported.
The decision came after a legal challenge from the progressive campaign group TransActual UK, which argued that the government had wrongfully used emergency powers to enact the ban and that it did not carry out the proper consultations with patient groups before making a decision.
The move from the previous government came in response to the landmark Cass Review, a study into medical interventions for children supposedly suffering from gender dysphoria, which found that there was a lack of evidence of the efficacy of so-called “gender affirming care” such as the prescription of puberty blockers.
The Cass Review came in the wake of the National Health Service (NHS) also banning puberty blockers for children, outside of clinical trials.
Despite large swaths of the Labour Party subscribing to radical transgenderism, the new left-wing government appears intent to maintain the ban on puberty blockers for children.
Recently-installed Health Secretary Wes Streeting said of Monday’s ruling: “Children’s healthcare must be evidence-led… Dr Cass’s review found there was insufficient evidence that puberty blockers are safe and effective for children with gender dysphoria and gender incongruence.
“We must therefore act cautiously and with care when it comes to this vulnerable group of young people.”
The TransActual UK campaign group condemned the ruling and said that it is considering an appeal.
“We are seriously concerned about the safety and welfare of young trans people in the UK. Over the last few years, they have come to view the UK medical establishment as paying lip service to their needs; and all too happy to weaponise their very existence in pursuit of a now discredited culture war,” the group said in a statement.
“To trans young people: you are loved and you are special. What is happening to your healthcare in this country is appalling, and we will keep working until all trans people can access the healthcare they need when they need it,” the group added.
The ruling was hailed by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, however, who said: “We seem, at last, to be moving back to treatment for vulnerable youth based on evidence-based medicine, as opposed to the unevidenced [sic] claims of ideological lobby groups.”
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