shades fills you in

Cleveland Clinic: Puberty blockers are medications that suppress sex hormones. Doctors use them to treat precocious puberty, but they’ve become a hot-button issue because they’re also used to treat transgender youth

For example, in early November the Florida Board of Medicine voted to ban puberty blockers. Similar bans have popped up across the country, says National Review

The Federalist is glad for the laws: Puberty blockers are under-researched, dangerous, and can cause all kinds of problems, like with bone density, infertility, brain development, and mental health

On the fertility issue, a French study found that cis women who took puberty blockers for precocious puberty had no differences in fertility compared to the general population

NBC News does report that puberty blockers *plus* hormone replacement therapy can make you infertile. But research is in its early days on all of this, and some trans men are able to become fertile again after pausing their meds

The Mayo Clinic’s take: There are definitely still unknowns around puberty blockers. But, on the plus side, kids who take them are carefully monitored. And when you weigh in mental health, the benefits strongly outweigh the risks

Reason Magazine thinks some anti-trans healthcare laws go way too far. No matter how some feel about puberty blockers, it doesn’t make sense that a largely accepted medical treatment is considered child abuse

This Medium writer and mom of a trans kid says she gets the anxiety around blockers, but many don’t get the process -- it’s extensive! Also, they let kids take a pause button without forcing permanent changes

Another Medium writer: The fearmongering over the safety of puberty blockers is bigotry. Nobody’s freaking out about using them to treat precocious puberty, because we all get that it’s medically necessary

But this Washington Examiner writer -- who took blockers but detransitioned -- still isn’t buying it. Even if puberty blockers are harmless (and they’re not), they facilitate gender transition and ultimately place kids on a path to sterility

The NYT says there are still a lot of unanswered questions about puberty blockers. What we really need is more research so we can standardize practices and make sure all kids get the right care