The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) has announced that children and young people with gender dysphoria will no longer be prescribed puberty blockers, because there is “not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness.” Puberty blockers will only be available to young people in the UK who are part of clinical research trials or go to certain private clinics, according to CNN.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has reported that puberty blockers may cause mental illness and permanent physical harm. The drugs suppress the hormones estrogen and testosterone, which help the reproductive system develop but also affect the bones and the brain as well as other parts of the body. Puberty blockers can have a negative effect on bone mass, and though some doctors believe that any bone mass that is lost can be recovered later, two studies have found that many people who use puberty blockers never fully recover that loss.
“There’s going to be a price,” said Dr. Sundeep Khosla, who leads a bone research lab at the Mayo Clinic. “And the price is probably going to be some deficit in skeletal mass.”
The UK’s decision to stop administering puberty blockers to children is a step in the right direction, but there are other drugs and even surgeries being accessed by children that are dangerous and have life-altering health consequences as well.
Birth control
In both the UK and the US, children are not allowed to receive medications such as Tylenol in school without a parental consent form; however, young teens in the U.S. and in the UK are commonly prescribed hormonal birth control to treat menstrual cramps or to have sex without their parents’ knowledge.
Hormonal birth control can cause blood clots, which can lead to pulmonary embolisms, heart attacks, and strokes — all of which can be deadly. Just before Christmas in 2023, 16-year-old Layla Khan of Lincolnshire died after a scan revealed she had a blood clot on her brain. Her death came just two and a half weeks after she began taking hormonal contraception — and she’s not the only one.
Hormonal birth control is also linked to a greater risk of breast cancer, cervical cancer, rare brain tumors, depression, and alterations in the brain. There is also an increased risk of infertility among women who take birth control for two years or longer. Fifty-four percent (54%) of women who try to become pregnant after using condoms as birth control delivered a baby within a year, compared to just 32% of women who used hormonal birth control prior to trying to get pregnancy. Women who used an IUD for more than six years had the highest rate of infertility.
Hormonal birth control is handed out to young girls who are led to believe that it is safe — or that the ‘benefits’ outweigh the risks.
Abortion
Young girls are also being fed the lie that abortion is both safe and necessary when they face an unplanned pregnancy. Though the laws vary from state to state in the U.S., as Planned Parenthood tells young girls, “If you’re younger than 18, you might be able to get an abortion without telling anyone. The exact rules vary in different places.” Planned Parenthood will also help minors seek and obtain a “judicial bypass” to avoid telling their parents they are having an abortion.
In the UK, one of the largest abortion businesses, British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), states on its site that minors need an adult with them for the abortion, but it doesn’t have to be the child’s parents. BPAS tells teens, “[W]e won’t talk with your parents against your wishes…”
Abortion, both surgical and by the the abortion pill, is risky, and should not be given to a minor, especially without parental knowledge.
The abortion pill has been found to be four times more dangerous for women than a first trimester surgical procedure and research has shown that about six percent (6%) of women who took the abortion pill required a visit to urgent care or the ER. Researchers in one study found that among all abortions reviewed, the complication rate was 5.2% for women who took the abortion pill compared to 1.3% for those who underwent a first-trimester surgical abortion. When reviewing abortions that resulted in “major complications,” the study found that more severe complications occurred for the abortion pill at a rate of .31% compared to .16% for first-trimester surgical abortions.
Dr. Christina Francis, board-certifled OB/GYN and CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists explained:
Women and girls are being endangered and injured every day in our country through these dangerous chemical abortion drugs. … I, personally, along with many of my colleagues, have seen women and girls come in through our emergency rooms with severe complications from these drugs. Complications that should be addressed by the FDA. Complications like heavy bleeding and hemorrhage and the need for emergency surgery, the need for admission to the hospital for blood transfusions and infections, and even one of our members took care of a woman who likely will not be able to have children in the future because of major complications that required two major surgeries to correct these complications due to these chemical abortion drugs.
The abortion pill has a high rate of incomplete abortion which can cause a serious infection and lead to a second, followup surgical abortion. And if a woman is experiencing an undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy, she is at risk of dying if she takes the abortion pill. The New England Journal of Medicine noted, “Early data do not suggest an increased incidence of ectopic pregnancy detected after abortion with the use of no-touch [no-test] protocols. However, clinicians must maintain a high index of suspicion for ectopic pregnancy in persons presenting with suggestive symptoms, in particular in persons without confirmation of an intrauterine pregnancy before abortion.”
As for surgical abortion, each procedure carries its own risks, and the further along in gestation a woman or teen is, the riskier the procedure becomes.
A first-trimester dilation and curettage (D&C) can result in uterine perforation, which can cause scarring that can lead to complications in future pregnancies. It also carries the risk of infection and heavy bleeding. A complication that is considered rare is Asherman’s syndrome, which is when scar tissue forms bands in the uterus that can lead to infertility.
A second-trimester dilation and evacuation (D&E) abortion can cause uterine or cervical perforation, moderate to severe vaginal bleeding, retained fetal parts, and infection. Late abortionist LeRoy Carhart had a history of sending women to the hospital, including two women, who in a matter of weeks were injured at his clinic so badly that ER staff were reportedly left traumatized upon witnessing their injuries.
Both women underwent abortions at 25 weeks. The first suffered a punctured uterus that was described as having a “huge” hole as well as internal injuries that included “mangled” bowels. Parts of her baby were still in her womb when she got to the ER, and some of her baby’s body parts, including a leg, had been shoved through the hole in her uterus. Her bowel had to be resected.
The second woman also suffered a perforated uterus with a hole about 8-9 inches wide. She arrived at the ER in critical condtion with damage so extensive that a hysterectomy had to be performed. She needed four units of blood “just to keep her alive,” and parts of her baby were also pushed through the hole that was punctured in her uterus. The baby was mostly still intact except for a missing arm and portion of the spinal column.
No abortionist was listed as having committed the abortions, but Carhart was the one who called the hospital for the second patient. An email sent from one of the surgeons regarding the first patient acknowledged that staff members experienced trauma with that case.
Induction abortion is used during the second and third trimesters and can cause injury to the cervix, rupture of the uterus if a uterine scar is present from a previous surgery (such as a D&C or D&E abortion), heavy bleeding, infection, and retained fetal parts or pregnancy tissue.
The risks of puberty blockers, birth control, and abortion are great, and yet these drugs and procedures related to sex are largely the only drugs and procedures that parents are not required to give consent for when their minor child seeks them out.
