Puberty blockers, hormones and surgery

The Women’s Rights Party supports a ban on the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to treat children and adolescents under the age of 18 who are presenting with “sex-related distress”, and to restrict Government-funded masculinisation or feminisation cosmetic surgery to those aged over 25 (currently aged over 18).

We are also calling for an inquiry into the contracting by Health NZ Te Whatu Ora of PATHA (the Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa) to update its guidelines for “gender-affirming care” for healthcare professionals in New Zealand. The Cass Report assessment of guideline quality put the New Zealand PATHA guidelines second to last – a very low score of 149/600.

The NHS England has banned the use of puberty blockers as part of clinical practice for children experiencing gender confusion. This follows release of the Cass Report, an independent review of published evidence on the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones on children and young people.

Increasingly European countries are choosing a more cautious approach to the use of puberty blockers after finding the evidence base underpinning such treatments to be wanting.

We are urging our own health authorities to take on board the findings of the Cass Report. The Ministry of Health has so far remained hostage to a vocal minority that has put our children’s health at risk of lifelong irreversible damage.

The Cass Report found that that existing studies were of poor quality and lacked evidence on the long-term impact of taking hormones from an early age. Side effects include menopausal symptoms, weaker bone density and the potential impact on fertility, sexual
function and brain development.

Cass concluded that the research has let all those involved down, and most importantly children and young people. Far from giving children “time to think”, the Cass Report found that puberty blockers effectively locked them into a medical pathway leading to
cross-sex hormones and surgeries that are irreversible.

The Women’s Rights Party already has policy opposing the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones with children under 18. New Zealand is becoming more of an outlier in our increasing use of puberty blocking hormones. In 2022, 416 young people aged 12- 17 were taking puberty blocking hormones, compared to 48 in 2011, the first year of use for gender dysphoria. We have 11 times the rate of use as England: 110 per 100,000 versus 9 per 100,000. We also have no minimum age for prescribing. If puberty starts at 10 or 11, these children are eligible for blockers.