To get their way, two U.S. lawmakers are using an England law that changed the old rules about gender changing as an example.
Lawmakers in several U.S. states have compared this English law to their own law that limits the health of transgender children. In the past, big health groups in both Europe and the U.S. have pushed for transgender care for both teens and adults.
The new rule in England says that no one younger than sixteen years old can start a medical transition. At first, there was a rule that said puberty blockers could only be used after a certain date. To keep this in mind, they wouldn’t give puberty blockers to teens who wanted to change their gender.
A lot of people think that this rule might not be enforced because most people don’t agree with not letting teens use puberty blockers. This law from England has been used by many other US lawmakers to back up their own choices about transgender health.
While in England, State Senator Beverly Gossage used the new law there to push her own law. “In England, they’ve said that there can be no gender-affirming care for children other than therapy because there isn’t enough scientific proof,” she said.
People who are against puberty blockers have said that they can be useful for many reasons and not just for transgender people. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health said something about what was going on.
A statement from them said, “Decisions about healthcare should be based on facts, not on politics.” The NHS hasn’t said what standards it will use to keep an eye on the damage its choice might cause, which puts kids and families in great danger for no good medical reason.
Puberty blockers are often given to people for a variety of reasons, such as to stop early puberty and to help with unwanted body parts that aren’t related to their gender, like breasts or beards.
