Wellington | Te Whanganui-a-Tara – Members of the public supporting the right of trans young people to access gender-affirming healthcare gathered outside the High Court in Wellington today, in support of a legal challenge by the Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa (PATHA) to the Government’s ban on new puberty blocker prescriptions for young people with gender dysphoria or gender incongruence.
Puberty blockers are medicines that temporarily pause puberty. They have long been used for conditions such as precocious puberty, and are also used in gender-affirming healthcare where puberty would otherwise cause serious distress. Their purpose is to give young people, their whānau and clinicians time to make informed decisions without the immediate pressure of irreversible pubertal changes.
The Government’s regulations, announced in November 2025, singled out trans young people by blocking new prescriptions for gender dysphoria or gender incongruence, while leaving the same class of medicines available for other uses, including precocious puberty, endometriosis and prostate cancer.
The ban was quickly met with widespread opposition from health professionals, medical bodies and trans community advocates. Paediatric endocrinologist Dr Ben Albert described puberty blockers as “generally very safe medications,” explaining that when they are stopped, “puberty restarts.” Dr Rona Carroll, a specialist GP and senior lecturer at the University of Otago, called the ban “a shockingly inappropriate overreach of politics into healthcare,” adding that prescribing decisions should remain between clinicians, patients and their whānau.
In December, the High Court ordered that the Crown take no steps to enforce the ban pending judicial review. Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith noted that puberty blockers are reversible, that there is no evidence they affect fertility, and that the evidence relating to mental health outcomes suggests the negative consequences of a ban are a more immediate concern.
For many in the trans community, access to puberty blockers was already far too limited.
“Puberty blockers are already a compromise,” said Charlie Sheppard, spokesperson for Queer Endurance in Defiance. “They give young people time. They do not force anyone down a path. What the Government has done is take that limited option away specifically from trans youth, while leaving the same medications available for others. That is discrimination dressed up as caution.”
“Everyone deserves bodily autonomy. That principle goes for abortion, disability care, and medical treatment. It goes for relationships and how you present to the world. That’s progress. We don’t want to let that progress go. Healthcare decisions should be made by young people, and clinicians — not imposed by Cabinet for political reasons.”
Queer Endurance in Defiance supports PATHA’s challenge and calls for the ban to be permanently struck down. The group also calls on the Government to end political interference in gender-affirming healthcare and instead invest in accessible, well-resourced services for trans young people.
Queer Endurance in Defiance is a queer and trans-majority community organisation which has worked since 2021 to oppose transphobia and defend the rights, safety and dignity of queer and trans people in Aotearoa.