UK Court Rules that Children Under 16 Cannot Consent to Gender Transition Treatments
A United Kingdom high court ruled this week that children younger than 16 are not mature enough to consent to experimental gender transition treatments.
As The Christian Post reports, the decision comes after a 23-year-old and a mother of an autistic 15-year-old sued the Tavistock clinic.
Keira Bell, 23, claims in the suit that the gender-transition drugs damaged her body and may have made her unable to have children. Bell opted for the gender transition originally, but called it a “brash decision” she made as a teenager.
UK judges agreed with Bell, saying it is “highly unlikely” that children under 16 understand the long-term effects of gender transition treatments.
“It is highly unlikely that a child aged 13 or under would be competent to give consent to the administration of puberty blockers,” the judges said in the ruling. “It is doubtful that a child aged 14 or 15 could understand and weigh the long-term risks and consequences of the administration of puberty blockers.”
In cases of teenagers younger than 18, the court ruled that doctors might need to consult the courts for approval.
Paul Conrathe, the attorney who represented Bell and the other claimant, said the ruling was “a historic judgment that protects children who suffer from gender dysphoria. … This may have led to hundreds of children receiving this experimental treatment without their properly informed consent.”
Bell told reporters she was “delighted” with the outcome of the lawsuit and said it was “about protecting vulnerable children.”
“I’m delighted to see that common sense has prevailed,” she told reporters.
In a statement on its website Tuesday, the trans-critical group TransgenderTrend called the ruling a “watershed moment.”
“This case has shone a light on the worst and most unforgivable result of the institutional capture throughout society by the gender lobby: the medical experiment on children’s healthy bodies, with serious irreversible and lifelong consequences,” the group said in its statement.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Bulat Silvia
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
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