(LifeSiteNews) — The U.K. National Health Service will no longer issue new prescriptions for cross-sex hormones to gender-confused minors, but individuals who are already receiving the permanently damaging drugs can continue to do so.
The decision by the British government-run healthcare system follows a comprehensive 2024 study called the Cass Review. It found minimal evidence to support chemical interventions for gender-confused kids. (Experts have also affirmed that sex is immutable).
A national medical director with the NHS explained the decision further.
“The NHS has exercised extreme caution when considering starting young people on this treatment,” James Palmer said, according to the BBC, which further reported:
He said the review had been “exceptionally thorough and complex” and had “established that the available evidence does not support the continued use of masculinising or feminising hormones to treat” young people under 18 with gender dysphoria or gender incongruence.
Dr. Kurt Miceli confirmed, “There is no evidence supporting the use of transgender hormone treatments in minors.”
“We hope other nations will follow suit and end government support for sex‑denying hormones for children,” Miceli, chief medical officer for Do No Harm, said via a media statement.
He said there are loopholes that should be closed, as “private providers” can still provide the drugs. Do No Harm wants to see British lawmakers “take further steps to bring the practice to a full and responsible end.”
There is mounting evidence that the chemical and surgical interventions are not beneficial to gender-confused minors. Drugs given to gender-confused individuals have been linked to death, bone density loss, and heart problems, as extensively reported by LifeSiteNews.
Miceli said there are non-chemical interventions that can help minors with their confusion.
“Children experiencing gender dysphoria deserve high‑quality, evidence‑based care grounded in watchful waiting, talk therapy, and robust psychosocial support,” he stated.
Miceli said healthcare providers need to look at the underlying mental issues that may be at play.
He told LifeSiteNews:
A developmentally informed approach centers on careful exploration, helping young people understand the sources of their distress, strengthening coping skills, and addressing co‑occurring mental health or other challenges. These children should be treated with compassion, not victimized by a political ideology enforced by radical activists.
Do No Harm has been active in fighting in support of prohibitions on drugs and surgeries for gender-confused minors at both the state and federal level.
Medical experts, groups warns about transgender procedures
For years, Do No Harm stood out as one of the few medical groups willing to stand up against transgender ideology. However, in the past year, some groups have made comments generally raising concerns about the procedures, although without endorsing prohibitions.
For example, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) recently re-affirmed its opposition, first made in 2024, to surgeries for gender-confused minors.
The group’s February 3 position statement cited “very low/low certainty of evidence regarding mental health outcomes, along with emerging concerns about potential long-term harms and the irreversible nature of surgical interventions in a developmentally vulnerable population.”
“ASPS concludes there is insufficient evidence demonstrating a favorable risk-benefit ratio for the pathway of gender-related endocrine and surgical interventions in children and adolescents,” the surgeons group stated. As a result, it “recommends that surgeons delay gender-related breast/chest, genital, and facial surgery until a patient is at least 19 years old.”
However, the plastic surgeons’ group opposed any legal prohibitions that would give real teeth to its position.
Meanwhile, a University of Michigan cardiologist recently spoke out against transgender drugs, raising concerns about the long-term health effects.
Dr. Venk Murthy said he is “particularly alarmed by the cardiovascular risks these interventions pose to developing young hearts.”
He wrote further:
Cross-sex hormones, such as estrogen in biological males or testosterone in biological females, are known to alter lipid profiles, increase blood clotting, and elevate the risk of thromboembolic events, stroke, myocardial infarction (heart attack), and hypertension.
LifeSiteNews has extensively documented the harms of transgender drugs and surgeries, based on opinions from credentialed medical experts as well as formerly gender-confused individuals who now share their regret. Read more here.