Care for the Teenage Years by Clare Bergin

Care for the Teenage Years

Clare Bergin

The Christian Institute has welcomed a High Court ruling on the use of puberty-blocking hormones on children under 16 by the Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS). The court ruled that children under 16, who are considering gender reassignment, are unlikely to be able to give informed consent to medical treatment involving drugs that delay puberty. The ruling said that because of the experimental nature of the drugs, clinics should seek court authorisation before starting such treatment, even in cases of teens aged 16 or over.

The case was brought by two claimants against an NHS trust that runs the UK's main gender identity development service for children. One of the claimants, Keira Bell, who was prescribed hormone blockers when she was 16, argued that the clinic should have challenged her more over her decision to transition to a male. When she was 16, after three one hour appointments, she was prescribed puberty-blockers. At the age of 20 she had a double mastectomy. She told the court that she thought the treatment would make her happy. She said: ‘It was heartbreaking to realise that I'd gone down the wrong path’. Keira has now begun de-transitioning treatment.

In her ruling, Dame Victoria Sharp, sitting with Lord Justice Lewis and Mrs Justice Lieven said: ‘It is highly unlikely that a child aged 13 or under would be competent to give consent to the administration of puberty blockers .. It is doubtful that a child aged 14 or 15 could understand and weigh the longterm risks and consequences of the administration of puberty blockers. In respect of young persons aged 16 and over, the legal position is that there is a presumption that they have the ability to consent to medical treatment’. They said that given the long term consequences of the treatments, which were described as ‘innovative and experimental', court consent should be sought prior to clinical treatment.

Simon Calvert, Deputy Director for Public Affairs at the Institute, observed that: ‘Keira Bell has secured a win for common sense. People have become increasingly uneasy at the way normal medical considerations have been elbowed out by identity politics and the demands of activists. This concern is particularly acute when it comes to children. Ten years ago, the GIDS – the only such clinic for children in England – received 77 referrals. Last year there were over 2,700 – three quarters of them girls. It's way past time that we paused to ask ourselves what is going on.

Many experts are concerned this rapid rise in cases is being driven by social influences, particularly online. Teenagers experiencing common adolescent struggles are being encouraged to think of themselves as trans, as if it is the solution to all their problems. Cruelly, it is often presented to them as the only alternative to suicide. The reality behind the rhetoric is that, for children experiencing confusion about sex and gender, at least three quarters of them will find that the confusion resolves itself naturally around the age of puberty. But, of course, puberty is the very process being blocked by the drugs given to kids at the GIDS clinic. The§ra’s victory means these experiments on kids must stop’.

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