Dutch Health Council Reaffirms Gender-Affirming Care for Trans Youth, Dismissing Transphobic Lies
The Health Council of the Netherlands has reaffirmed the countryās gender-affirming healthcare for transgender adolescents, rejecting calls to dismantle or restrict it. This is a huge loss for local TERFs and other transphobes.
Following a two-year review commissioned by the Dutch health ministry, the independent advisory body concluded that puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones achieve their intended physical effects and are associated with better mental health.
The council found no evidence requiring an overhaul of the current practice, which combines extensive assessment, psychological support, multidisciplinary oversight and informed decision-making with young people and their parents.
It stressed that withholding treatment is not a neutral choice: delays may worsen distress and allow unwanted, irreversible pubertal changes to develop.
The review wasĀ commissioned Ā after the publication of the British Cass Review. The Dutch health council found that report irrelevant.
Dutch studies reviewed by the council found that only 0 to 3.5 percent discontinued hormones begun during adolescence, with no recorded cases of regret, although researchers still need better long-term follow-up.
A Dutch cohort study found that 98 percent of those who began puberty suppression and later received gender-affirming hormones continued treatment into young adulthood.
Transgender care for adolescents in the Netherlands
Report in Dutch
Executive Summary in English
Erin in the Morning: Landmark Official Dutch Review Recommends Trans Youth Care, Call For Expanding Treatment