We don’t allow children to buy cigarettes or alcohol. So why do we allow life-changing puberty blockers?

We don’t allow children to drive or buy cigarettes or alcohol. Children can’t consent to sex or even to getting the name of their latest crush tattooed on their arm. Whether or not they are mature for their age and fully versant in all the associated risks is irrelevant. The law dictates children cannot engage in these risky activities.

But what about when it comes to changing gender? Children too young to vote, smoke or get a tattoo are currently deemed capable of consenting to drugs designed to stop the onset of puberty.

This ridiculous situation is being challenged in a case being heard in the high court this week. Susan Evans, a former psychiatric nurse at the NHS-run Tavistock gender identity clinic, and “Mrs A”, the mother of a 15-year-old girl with autism currently waiting for an appointment at the centre, have instigated a judicial review against the clinic and NHS England.

Their primary concern is the routine prescribing of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children who want to change gender. They argue that children cannot give informed consent to the intervention and so puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones should be provided only on a case by case basis following a specific court order.