Puberty 101

Saving puberty blockers for adults only is embarrassingly stupid.

I’ve been hearing this argument a lot lately, and it’s driving me up the wall: “Kids under 18 can’t make big decisions like joining the army or smoking, so why should they get puberty blockers?”

I get why it might sound logical at first, but when you dig into it, it doesn’t hold up. This hits close to home for me.

Puberty by its nature starts young — usually between 8 and 13. Earlier for girls, later for boys, but that’s the range. Now, imagine being a kid in elementary school, and your body starts changing way too soon. Whiskers, deeper voices, or chest development when you’re still playing on the playground. That’s called precocious puberty, and it’s rough—physically and socially. Since the 1980s, doctors have used puberty blockers to hit pause on those changes. The kid eventually stops taking the meds, and puberty picks back up like it never stopped. No permanent changes, just a breather to keep things on track.

Now, here’s where it gets personal. I went through what I would call the “wrong” puberty. If I’d had access to blockers to pause things while I sorted out who I was, my life might look a lot different today. Instead, I’m facing years of expensive procedures to undo what happened back then. That’s not just a medical bill—it’s a weight I carry every day. Puberty blockers are reversible; puberty isn’t, not without a lot of pain and cost.

For kids facing puberty and questioning their gender, it’s the same deal. Blockers can give them time to figure things out with their doctors, parents, and therapists. Generally, the rules will require them to have been working on this stuff for a year or two before medicine is indicated. Prior to that, it’s about names, pronouns, clothes, and stuff.

So these aren’t snap decisions. It’s a team effort, with professionals and families making sure it’s the right call. When I hear folks say, “Just wait until they’re 18,” I want to ask: Wait for what? For puberty to lock in changes that might break their heart or their body? That’s not protecting kids; that’s setting them up for a harder road.

Some folks try to split hairs, saying blockers are fine for early puberty but not for trans kids. Or they simply ignore the fact that no child ever makes a medical decision on their own; their parents make those decisions with the advice of doctors.

These are frightening stances to take. The meds do the same thing: they pause puberty, period. Whether it’s for health or identity, the goal is to give kids a chance to grow up without irreversible changes they’re not ready for yet. Denying that is saying that their parents and healthcare professionals are not to be trusted, by which logic no kid can ever get any medical attention at all. Denying that is telling a kid, “Tough luck, deal with it later,” when we have a safe, reversible option right there.

I’m not saying this is simple. It’s a big decision, and it should be handled carefully. But that’s why parents, doctors, and therapists are involved—not politicians. When I think about kids who might be spared the struggles I went through, it breaks my heart to see people pushing to take this option away. We’re talking about real kids, real families, and real futures. If we can help them avoid a lifetime of regret with a treatment that’s been studied and used for decades, why wouldn’t we?

States in the US are starting to classify the provision of these medicines as “child abuse” — please, if this issue comes before the legislature or courts in your state, understand that withholding these medicines is the true irreversible child abuse.