Puberty blockers pause development to prevent lasting harm
Dr Helen Webberley on Times Radio: puberty blockers, with Andrew Neil, Times Radio
Puberty blockers are a drastic, irreversible intervention that permanently alter a child's development. Many people assume that giving them to a trans child is rushing a decision that cannot be undone.
What I was trying to say there is that puberty blockers do exactly what the name suggests: they pause. They do not push a child forward into anything. They stop an unwanted puberty from writing permanent changes onto a body while there is still time to think. The harm they prevent is real and lasting, the voice that drops, the chest that develops, the hips that widen, changes that no amount of reflection later can fully undo. That is the cruelty of waiting. Every month without blockers, for a child who needs them, is a month of a puberty they did not choose and cannot reverse. The pause is not the risk. The puberty is.
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