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Campaigner Keira Bell and two unnamed parents have threatened Health Secretary Wes Streeting with legal action unless he bans the sale of cross-sex hormones such as testosterone to children under 18 in the private sector. In December last year, Streeting announced that he would be banning puberty-suppressing drugs for gender dysphoria indefinitely. Lawyers acting on behalf of a group of three, including Bell, have now warned Streeting that they will seek a judicial review, which is a way of challenging the lawfulness of a decision by a public body unless he follows suit with cross-sex hormones.
Bell claims that taking cross-sex hormones has had irreversible effects on her health and described the experience as “flipping her life upside down”. The hormone treatment is used to support individuals wishing to transition from their birth sex to a different gender. The other two individuals seeking legal action wish to remain anonymous.
Sinclairs Law, the firm representing the group, alleges that private clinics are offering under-18s cross-sex hormones, despite posing an equal risk to puberty blockers, which were banned last year. There is concern that hormones might pose health risks to developing bones, brains, and reproductive systems in children.
The Department for Health and Social Care has yet to respond directly to the threat of a judicial review. However, a spokesperson noted that the Cass Review into gender care released last year did not call for a ban on the use of cross-sex hormones for children aged 16–18. Changes have already been made in the NHS to put additional safeguards in place, with a group of medical professionals now reviewing cases involving under-18s before hormones are prescribed.
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