A mom recently appeared on TikTok alongside her child, whom she says is transgender, and claimed that efforts to ban transgender hormone treatments from minors who want them can be harmful to their psyche.
In the video, the unnamed mother admitted she was not an expert. She then proceeded to tell a story about a childhood friend who began developing physically before anyone else. She spoke on that person’s behalf, alleging they were “not comfortable in their own skin.”
She concluded that the difference between her friend and her child was that the latter would not just catch up in terms of natural development.
“So the anxiety level that is created by not allowing children to take these medications and take a breath and grow into themselves is so strong that we might be harming some children by not giving them that,” the mother said.
However, the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds), a right-leaning advocacy group of pediatricians and other healthcare professionals, asserts that transgender hormone usage may cause mental illness.
“In fact, the package insert for Lupron, the number one prescribed puberty blocker in America, lists ’emotional instability’ as a side effect and warns prescribers to ‘Monitor for development or worsening of psychiatric symptoms during treatment,’” ACPeds’ website states.
Some argue, on the other hand, that the potential for mental health trauma from such drugs is less than the trauma caused by doing nothing. GenderGP, a transgender advocacy group, cites several sources that claim transgender hormone usage is safe and does not cause mental health issues. The organization pointed to a study published by the National Health Institute on the mental health of young people who start puberty early, a phenomenon called precocious puberty doctors sometimes prescribe hormone inhibitors for.
“[The study] found that although the patients had been very concerned about physical differences from their peers, they recovered slightly from loneliness and behavior disorders during treatment,” GenderGP writes.
In a 2008 study, the Journal of Medical Ethics claimed that not prescribing such drugs to youth who identify as transgender is unethical.
“If allowing puberty to progress appears likely to harm the child, puberty should be suspended,” the researchers wrote. “There is nothing unethical with interfering with spontaneous development, when spontaneous development causes great harm to the child. Indeed, it is unethical to let children suffer, when their suffering can be alleviated.”
However, while there have been no long-term studies on the use of hormone inhibitors to treat gender dysphoria, there is mounting evidence that the use of the drugs can have long-term and often permanent consequences. Such drugs, which overstimulate the pituitary gland to prevent puberty, are often combined with cross-sex hormones, including testosterone and estrogen. These “treatments” can be associated with a range of maladies that include osteoporosis, cancer, sterility, and other conditions.
The World Health Organization has warned that such treatments are not proven, and authorities in Norway, Finland, and Sweden have issued cautionary guidance along similar lines. The National Health Service of England (NHSE) has banned the use of hormone inhibitors for the treatment of adolescent gender dysphoria, as reported by The Hill.
“We have concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of [hormone inhibitors] to make the treatment routinely available at this time,” the NHSE explained.
Texas has joined several other states in enacting laws banning certain transgender medical procedures for minors, including hormone inhibitors, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. The law is currently facing legal challenges and was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year.
