Court rules children can take puberty blockers for gender reassignment

THE High Court of London rules that children under 16 can take puberty blockers for gender reassignment if they understand the treatment.

The landmark ruling made by the High Court reiterates that the children must understand a range of factors about the procedure before consent can be given, which was confirmed by Dame Victoria, who said that “in order for a child to be competent to give valid consent the child would have to understand, retain and weigh” a number of factors.

Dame Victoria continued, saying children also needed to understand “the impact that taking this step on this treatment pathway may have on future and life-long relationships, the unknown physical consequences of taking puberty-blocking drugs and the fact that the evidence base for this treatment is as yet highly uncertain”.

“The relationship between taking cross-sex hormones and subsequent surgery, with the implications of such surgery, the fact that cross-sex hormones may well lead to a loss of fertility (and) the impact of cross-sex hormones on sexual function”, would need to be understood by the child, according to the judge, in order to be competent to consent to puberty blockers.

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