Puberty blockers plan ‘devastating’

A Christian charity leader says she is “devastated” that a puberty blockers trial on children is going ahead.

Dr Julie Maxwell, Deputy Director of Lovewise, spoke out after the High Court rejected a legal challenge aimed at stopping the experiment.

The Pathways trial, which seeks to offer puberty blocking drugs to more than 200 children aged between 11 and 16, is currently undergoing recruitment. Campaigners argued that there were significant safeguarding issues with the trial, as well as risks to participants’ emotional and physical health.

“It is astonishing that a trial that has had so many concerns raised about it can still go ahead,” Maxwell said. “Children and teenagers who are questioning their gender are vulnerable and often distressed. They need the safest, most beneficial help, that is least likely to cause additional problems. The evidence we already have points towards puberty blocking drugs not meeting these criteria.”

“It is a tragedy that the court has refused permission for this challenge to proceed,” said Keira Bell, who was given puberty blockers as a teenager before realising that “transitioning” was “a big mistake”.