dysphoria, on demand.”
Bev Jackson, co-founder of LGB Alliance, said that allowing online clinics to keep prescribing puberty blockers would “make a mockery” of the NHS guidelines.
She said: “If these drugs cannot be provided on the NHS they should not be obtainable anywhere, particularly not by rogue private clinics operating largely online. We call on the prime minister to support the Health and Equality Acts (Amendment) Bill on Friday that would make these drugs unlawful. Hundreds of vulnerable young people have already been harmed. Rishi Sunak can ensure that no more children join their ranks.
“We have to close this loophole. If not, then everybody who is convinced they need these drugs will try to get them somewhere else.”
Faye McGinty, of Women’s Rights Network, said puberty blockers “locked children into a lifetime of medicalisation”, adding: “If it’s not appropriate for the NHS to prescribe puberty blockers then it’s certainly not right for private providers, some of which are located overseas in order to evade controls, to do so.
“There are many side-effects and the treatment remains off-label in the UK for children with gender distress. It can’t be right that private clinics continue to expose children to harmful interventions that are not proven to be in their best interests.”
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