Today’s government announcement that it will pause plans for a clinical trial of puberty blockers on children, following concerns raised by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, is a significant development. It is also a deeply revealing one. If there are sufficient safety concerns to justify halting a trial, why were we here at all? Why were vulnerable children being lined up for further medical experimentation in the first place? A pause suggests hesitation. What is required is a complete stop.
For several years now, British society has watched the rapid medicalisation of children struggling with gender confusion. Puberty blockers — powerful drugs designed to interrupt a healthy, natural developmental process — have been presented as a cautious, reversible first step. Yet mounting evidence indicates that they are anything but neutral. They interfere with bone density, brain development, fertility, and sexual function. And they overwhelmingly place children on a conveyor belt towards cross-sex hormones and irreversible surgery.
