Report: U.S. 'Outlier' Among Western Nations in Transgender 'Care' for Children

The U.S. is becoming an outlier among many Western nations in the way its national medical institutions treat children suffering from distress over gender identity.

For years, the American healthcare industry has staunchly defended medical interventions for transgender minors, including puberty blockers, which suppress the physical changes of adolescence as a treatment for those distressed over their gender.

The European medical community, by contrast, is expressing doubts about that approach. Having allowed these treatments for years, five countries—the U.K., Sweden, Finland, Norway and France—now urge caution in their use for minors, stressing a lack of evidence that the benefits outweigh the risks. This month, the U.K.’s publicly funded National Health Service limited the use of puberty blockersto clinical trials, putting the drugs beyond the reach of most children.