UK Court Rules that Children Under 16 Cannot Consent to Gender Transition Treatments

A United Kingdom high court ruled this week that children younger than 16 are not mature enough to consent to experimental gender transition treatments.

The decision comes after a 23-year-old and a mother of an autistic 15-year-old sued the Tavistock clinic.

23 years old Keira Bell, claims in the suit that the gender-transition drugs damaged her body and may have made her unable to have children. Bell opted for the gender transition originally, but called it a “brash decision” she made as a teenager.

UK judges agreed with Bell, saying it is “highly unlikely” that children under 16 understand the long-term effects of gender transition treatments.

The attorney who represented Bell and the other claimant, Paul Conrathe, said the ruling was a historic judgment that protects children who suffer from gender dysphoria which may have led to hundreds of children receiving this experimental treatment without their properly informed consent.