Keira Bell is a heroine. Yesterday’s landmark ruling regarding the Judicial Review brought forward by Keira and Mrs A, the mother of a teenage girl seeking medical treatment for gender dysphoria, against the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, constitutes a step in the right direction to ensure the protection of children’s right to health and safety.

The court decided that children aged 16 years and under were ‘unlikely’ to be able to give informed consent to receiving puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. The court also found that children aged 13 years old and under were ‘highly unlikely’ to be competent to consent to puberty blockers.

The judgement of the court stated:

“Apart perhaps from life-saving treatment, there will be no more profound medical decisions for children than whether to start on this treatment pathway. In those circumstances, we consider that it is appropriate that the court should determine whether it is in the child’s best interests to take puberty blockers.”

In its concluding remarks, the court also stated:

“A child under 16 may only consent to the use of medication intended to suppress puberty where he or she is competent to understand the nature of the treatment. That includes an understanding of the immediate and long-term consequences of the treatment, the limited evidence available as to its efficacy or purpose, the fact that the vast majority of patients proceed to the use of cross-sex hormones, and its potential life-changing consequences for a child.

There will be enormous difficulties in a child under 16 understanding and weighing up this information and deciding whether to consent to the use of puberty-blocking medication. It is highly unlikely that a child aged 13 or under would be competent to give consent to the administration of puberty blockers. It is doubtful that a child aged 14 or 15 could understand and weigh the long-term risks and consequences of the administration of puberty blockers.”

We are grateful to Mrs A and to the legal team supporting this claim for their hard work on behalf of children affected by gender dysphoria, and their parents. Yesterday’s landmark judgement is also a testament to the hard work of thousands of women and parents, who have mobilised on this issue. Particularly, the feminist campaigns that have made this matter a priority, and created societal awareness of the consequences for children and teenagers of an “affirmative model” that neglects to take due care and attention to their needs.

At FiLiA, we are deeply grateful to Keira Bell for having the fortitude, courage of conviction and determination to see through to conclusion a process which began when she was barely 14 years old. As she has eloquently stated, children experiencing gender dysphoria deserve a health care system with provides support, not life-altering and experimental medical treatments.

In a press statement, Keira Bell said:

“This judgement is not political. It is about the protection of vulnerable children. This fight is not yet over. I would like to personally call on professionals and clinicians to create better mental health services and models to help those dealing with gender dysphoria to reconcile with their sex. Furthermore, I call on society to accept those who do not conform to sex stereotypes. This means stopping the homophobia, the misogyny and the bullying of those that are different.”

Although no court judgement can erase the effects of the politicisation of children’s health from the lives of too many young people, we hope that this High Court judgement galvanises a societal reckoning that prioritises once again children’s right to stereotype-free lives and to be protected from harm.