I believe that this care is necessary and essential for the people who need it. However, the evidence supporting puberty blockers for early adolescents is poor. This doesn’t mean that doctors should stop doing them, but that there need to be new studies—that are free from our dumbass politics—that examine the long term effects.

To highlight one part of the issue, someone prescribed puberty blockers at eight (some of the very youngest people today receiving blockers today are this age) they’d only be 38 today. There were not many, if any, people in the US or Europe receiving care this young then. So we just don’t have enough info on the long-term negative and/or positive effects which can arise decades down the road.

What Republicans are doing is bullshit.

Everyone who does are about providing gender-affirming care and supports those who have or are transitioning should be aware that we need better studies. That doesn’t mean care stops. Ideally anyone who is prescribed is a part of long-term study.

Western European medical orgs have started urge more rigor with prescriptions, and in the UK there was a big scandal involving lax protocol for care.

The handful people that regret care and “de-transition” are rare. But in our stupid culture rn, the fact the some of them are publicly shaming and suing there doctors could be tragic if we don’t get better data to back up doctors.