STOCKHOLM, (LifeSiteNews) – A young teen’s bones have become so weakened by puberty blockers that she now finds it difficult to walk.
A Swedish television channel, Uppdrag Granskning, recently produced an investigational documentary revealing abuses committed on children through transgender therapy. The film shows the suffering of a girl, who took the name Leo, who became severely harmed after undergoing transgender transitioning.
The girl’s mother Natalie recalled that “Leo was little when she wanted to become a he. I thought if this was his wish, I should agree with it. Everyone said Leo was brave to come out [as transgender], and I should be proud of him.”
Accordingly, Natalie took her daughter to the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm for the procedure. According to Daily Mail, Leo began the attempt to change her sex at the age of eleven.
She was medicated with puberty blockers as part of the treatment to stop her normal development into a woman. Unfortunately, these drugs had serious and unexpected side effects. After her treatment, Leo began to experience skeletal damage and stunted growth. She also suffered spinal fractures and osteopenia, a condition in which the bones are weakened and more prone to breakage.
Two of Leo’s vertebrae changed shape, and her bones become porous. Leo’s bone density tests and X-rays were shown to Ola Nilsson, Sweden’s leading child hormone specialist.
“It looks as if this patient has spinal fractures, and that’s serious,” Nilsson reported. “There is cause to be worried. If you are on puberty blockers for a long time, there is a risk of bone damage.”
Leo had been on blockers from the age of eleven to fifteen, and her medical team had failed to check her bones during this time. However, the physical aspects are only part of what Leo suffered from the treatment.
Her mother reported that Leo was initially happy with her decision to become a boy. However, this changed shortly after beginning treatment.
“His mental health got worse and worse,” Natalie said. “He attempted suicide several times. We couldn’t understand why. He was meant to be getting better from the treatment. We just kept hoping he would.”
It was after this that Leo began to experience chronic pain.
“My son shouldn’t be this way at his age,” Natalie said. “He should not have to live with this.”
Leo has stopped taking puberty blockers and her body has somewhat recovered although she still suffers from the irreversible bone damage.
Natalie is considering suing the Swedish health authorities as she says she feels “anger towards those I trusted.”
The Swedish channel ran an investigation into the Karolinska University Hospital. They discovered that Leo is one of at least 13 children identifying as transgender who were injured by the hospital’s treatment. They believe the actual number of damaged children among the 440 who have been given puberty blockers in Sweden since 2015 might be higher.
They further asserted that the hospital rushed children into the procedures. For example, the hospital has performed double mastectomies on girls as young as fourteen.
After this investigation, the Karolinska University Hospital reported itself to the national health authorities. They further determined to stop administering puberty blockers to minors except for research and when sanctioned by ethics experts.
Consequently, the country’s national health board acknowledged the dangers of administering puberty blockers to children and restricted the dispensation of blockers to children under eighteen years.
In the United Kingdom, Health Secretary Sajid Javid began an investigation this month, reviewing the administration of puberty blockers. He revealed that doctors sometimes dispense the drugs out of fear of being labelled as “transphobic.”
The decision to restrict puberty blockers in the U.K. was largely influenced by the high-profile case of 24-year-old Keira Bell. As a teenager, Bell was administered puberty blockers after only three hours of medical consultation.
She later regretted this decision and attempted to return to her life as a woman. However, she worries that the puberty blockers have affected her fertility. Accordingly, she determined to work to ban the administration of puberty blockers to children under sixteen years.
“A global conversation has begun over these drugs,” Bell said. “It is a doctor’s fantasy that a child as young as ten can consent to them or the loss of their future fertility.”
Sadly, neither Leo’s nor Keira Bell’s stories are unique; many children across the world undergo irreversible transgender medications and mutilations. However, lawmakers are increasingly standing up in defence of these children.
A Florida lawmaker recently sponsored a bill that would make transgender surgeries and drugs for minors “felony child abuse.” Likewise, Arizona governor Doug Ducey signed a bill last month banning transgender surgeries for minors.