Jennifer Bauwens, Ph.D. of the Family Research Center's (FRC) Center for Family Studies says "there's nothing really wonderful about" so-called "gender-affirming care."
"We shouldn't use the word 'care' because it's nothing about care," she recently told "Washington Watch."
This decision reportedly goes against the opinions of medical organizations in Europe and the United States, but it was reached after independent experts found an unacceptable safety risk in prescribing medications for gender dysphoria.
"They also said something interesting in that they really have not given attention or a care to those who want to stop puberty blockers and what that effect has on a child or those who want to reverse the effect of these puberty blockers," Dr. Bauwens noted.
In the United States, Americans are told that these drugs have no negative effect, that puberty is completely reversible, and the transition can be stopped at any time.
"The UK's scientific review is showing … that's not the case," said Bauwens. "You're allowing children to go on these puberty blockers and very harmful drugs without attention to these basic things."
The UK's ban does not apply to patients who are already receiving puberty blockers for gender dysphoria, to their use in clinical studies, or in treatment of children with precocious puberty – an uncommon medical condition that causes puberty to begin abnormally early.
This decision will be revisited in 2027.
