(2023-05-01) What Are Puberty Blockers And How Do They Work

Allison Parshall: What Are Puberty Blockers and How Do They Work? These medications are well studied and have been used safely since the late 1980s to pause puberty in adolescents with gender dysphoria.

But despite the evidence for the safety and efficacy of puberty-delaying treatments, some lawmakers across the U.S. have spread false claims about the drugs and other gender-affirming treatments as part of their efforts to ban or severely restrict access to health care for transgender people.

More than half of transgender people aged 13 to 24 have seriously considered suicide in the past year, according to a recent nationwide survey by the Trevor Project,

“Most people, within a year [of receiving puberty blockers], decide whether or not they’re going to continue to transition,” says Vin Tangpricha, an adult endocrinologist at Emory University Hospital and Emory University Hospital Midtown and a co-author of some of the foremost clinical guidelines for treating gender dysphoria in the U.S. and worldwide. “You can’t have someone on puberty blockers for a prolonged time.”

Teens who had access to puberty blockers and hormone therapy require fewer gender-affirming surgeries as adults.

Transgender health care bans are increasingly expanding beyond restrictions for minors. Last month an emergency rule by Missouri’s state attorney general placed new, onerous restrictions on adults seeking gender-affirming care, including blocking people diagnosed with autism and depression from accessing it. Nearly one in four transgender people are autistic, compared with one in 20 cisgender people