Just before parliament was dissolved on 30 May, the health secretary Victoria Atkins introduced an immediate ban for trans young people using puberty blockers prescribed by regulated prescribers in France, Germany, Switzerland and throughout Europe.
The consequences are profound.
A medicine that young trans people have used for decades, that is lawfully prescribed throughout Europe, that is recommended by decades-old international treatment protocols, that cis people can continue to use, and the NHS can continue to prescribe to young trans people if they have already started, will no longer be available. In fact, it will become a criminal offence for those caught by the ban to possess it, punishable by up to two years in prison.
The Cass report has been widely criticised – by the trans community, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, by the Endocrine Society and by the American Academy of Pediatrics – for its conclusions. But even the Cass report contemplates continued use of puberty blockers to treat trans people.
The ban also bypassed the normal requirement for consulting a statutory committee to protect the public interest. And introducing it shortly before parliament rose meant that parliament could not scrutinise it either.
Its results are predictable – and terrifying.
We have heard from a well-placed whistleblower inside the NHS that, in the seven years before the decision in the Bell case (concerning the use of puberty blockers), one person using Gender Identity Development Services lost their life. The NHS reacted to that decision by introducing immediate, heavy restrictions to NHS services for young trans people. And it did not lift them when the decision was overturned in the Court of Appeal. We have been informed that in the three years following the decision 16 people lost their lives. We have contemporaneous evidence that this concern was raised at the time and the whistleblower believes senior management took a decision to suppress evidence of the deaths. We put these allegations to the Tavistock, we know it received them, but it has failed to respond.
This ban closes off the only route to treatment left open by the restrictions on treatment in the NHS. Atkins's shockingly callous decision is likely to lead to further deaths of young trans people. We have received many emails from desperately worried parents.
Trans Actual CIC, working with Good Law Project, has instructed Russell-Cooke solicitors and senior barristers David Lock KC, Jason Coppel KC and Rob Harland to advise on a legal challenge to the regulations. So we're taking the first formal step in urgent legal proceedings against Atkins.
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Yet more lying from the TRAs.
False. At least 4 did.
They provide 0 evidence for this claim and I cannot find a single place where this is corroborated. This was almost certainly made up.
I'm not aware of the specifics of the decision, but with 2022 Cass interim report GIDs was meant to close and be replaced with region centres. Despite that children were still being put through the process. Weird to claim that the lack of puberty blockers is a cause here.
Even ignoring all of this:
The number of people being referred to the Tavistock has increased exponentially (roughly doubling every year) so there are more kids to commit suicide.
The percentage of kids who are trenders has increased significantly as has comorbidities.
TRAs have been encouraging trans children to kill themselves as much as possible for the last few years. Suicide is very influenceable.
The idea that using puberty blockers helps kids is backed by exceedingly poor only short term evidence, which is what the Cass Review found.
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The study you posted uses a completely different time frame. So we could instead say there were 4 deaths over 11 years, which would still mean a 14.7x higher death rate under the new policy. Is this supposed to represent evidence that this policy is working?
A Kathleen Stock article repeating the claim that the new centers were going to open up doesn't mean that these centers ever actually prescribed HRT to new patients. As a reminder, the NHS stopped prescribing to patients when the Bell case was initially decided upon, not when Tavistock's closure was announced.
Britbong cope that wasn't fit to publish in an actual medical journal so they set up their own website, written by someone who has never worked with trans patients and whose very first follow on twitter was a anti-trans NGO. No wonder it's a global laughing stock, much like bongland itself
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Agreed. This "whistleblower" does not exist.
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