U.K. to overhaul transgender medical treatments following comprehensive review of gender medicine

Britain's National Health Service (NHS) will conduct a comprehensive review of all transgender medical treatment it provides, including to adults, after a highly anticipated independent report concluded that such interventions for youth are based on "weak evidence," reports the Daily Wire.

The landmark final report released Tuesday by Dr. Hilary Cass, a pediatrician and former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, is the culmination of a major review on children and gender identity commissioned by the NHS in 2020.

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"The reality is that we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress," Dr. Cass stated bluntly in her report's findings.

She wrote in an accompanying editorial that the evidence underpinning gender medicine rests on "shaky foundations."

Among the report's key finds were recommendations that puberty blockers should no longer be routinely prescribed to children except in research settings due to their potential impacts on brain development and bone health. For 16 and 17-year-olds seeking cross-sex hormones like estrogen or testosterone, an "extremely cautious" approach is advised with a "clear clinical rationale" if not waiting until age 18 when fertility and other issues could be better managed.

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Dr. Cass also noted high rates of abuse, neglect, including sexual abuse, and parental substance issues among children referred to gender services. She cautioned having spoken to detransitioners who "deeply regret" their earlier transitions as well.

Calling for an end to the "toxicity of the debate" around these issues, which she deemed "exceptional," Dr. Cass wrote:

There are few other areas of healthcare where professionals are so afraid to openly discuss their views, where people are vilified on social media, and where name-calling echoes the worst bullying behaviour. This must stop.

One day after the report's publication, the NHS released a statement detailing actions it will take in response to the review's advice "about the need for caution in the initiation of medical interventions for young people under 18 years of age."

This includes immediately pausing any new transgender treatment starts for 16 and 17-year-olds at adult gender clinics. Other measures involve establishing at least two new regional children's gender services locations and issuing new clinical guidance that puberty blockers are no longer routinely available.

The actions come as England's only youth gender identity clinic, the controversial Tavistock facility, officially closed last week after being inundated by referrals in its final years of young girls with gender distress as well as other mental health conditions like depression and histories of trauma.

In the United States, at least 23 states have already enacted laws restricting access to medical transgender interventions for minors.