Children in Scotland as young as 12 can consent to transgender medical treatment, guidelines released by Scottish healthcare watchdog Care Inspectorate say.
Care Inspectorate released guidelines in May suggesting children be called their preferred pronouns and referred to the Sandyford Clinic— a facility which “operates a gender identity development service,” according to the Daily Mail. The document also reportedly advises children be allowed to share bedrooms aligned with their perceived gender identity. (RELATED: Record Number Of Children Identifying As Transgender In U.K.)
Sandyford Clinic compares their treatment model to the United Kingdom’s Tavistock Clinic, the Daily Mail reported. Tavistock was the world’s largest pediatric gender clinic before the UK’s National Health Service shut it down for providing treatments based on poor evidence, according to the Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine.
New government guidance has been issued in Scotland saying 12 year old children can consent to gender-affirming puberty blockers.
The guidance issued by Scotlands social care watchdog Care Inspectorate, recommends affirming children’s gender identities by using their preferred… pic.twitter.com/Rj7czLXFL1
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) May 11, 2023
Care Inspectorate’s guidelines make the case that children starting at the age of 12 have “sufficient capacity” to make decisions concerning medical treatments, while recognizing “this will not always be the case.”
The document draws on information provided by the Scottish government and pro-transgender organizations such as Stonewall and LGBT Youth Scotland, which helped write the guidelines, per Daily Mail.
“There is considerable evidence that just affirming children is harmful and this guidance seems to ignore all the emerging medical evidence,” said David Bell, a whistleblower who exposed the Tavistock Clinic in London.