See other countries that see hormonal therapies for trans adolescents

Last Wednesday (16), the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM) published in the Federal Official Gazette a resolution that vetoes hormonal therapies to children under 18 and alters the minimum age for gender transition surgery to 21 years.

THE Resolution No. 2,427/2025 Reviews technical criteria for the care of people with gender dysphoria, a condition characterized by discomfort or suffering between gender identity and sex attributed to birth. In it, the CFM:

• Veto the cross hormone therapy under 18;
• Alert the minimum age for gender reassignment surgeries with potential sterilizing effect from 18 to 21 years;
• It prohibits doctors from prescribing hormonal blockers to treat gender dysphoria in children and adolescents.

The resolution meets other countries that have also restricted hormonal therapies for adolescents. In May last year, the United Kingdom prohibited the prescription of puberty blocker treatments for children under 18 on the grounds that there was not enough evidence to certify the safety of treatment in people with gender dysphoria.

In January this year, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order that blocks medical procedures involving chemical and surgical interventions in transgender children. The Order guided federal agencies to remove policies based on the guidance of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, on the grounds that the entity has no scientific credibility, although these guidelines are considered by experts in this practice of medicine as the gold standard around the world.

In February, Argentina’s presidential office reported that President Javier Milei made the decision to prohibit gender -changing treatments and surgeries, including hormone therapy.

In 2020, Finland published guidelines that claim that psychotherapy should be first -rate treatment for gender -dysphoria, instead of puberty blockers and intersex hormones. The change occurred after a systematic review that concluded that the set of evidence for the pediatric gender transition was inconclusive.

In 2022, Sweden officials suspended hormone therapy in minors. However, in April 2024, the Swedish Parliament passed a law that reduces from 18 to 16 years the minimum age to legally change gender and facilitates access to surgical interventions of sex change.

What are the hormonal therapies for gender transition?

Cross hormone therapy is a treatment characterized by the administration of sex hormones to induce secondary characteristics consistent with the patient’s gender identity. Puberty hormonal blockers are drugs that postpone or interrupt physical changes characteristic of puberty, being used for the relief of gender dysphoria.

At a press conference held on Wednesday (16), Raphael Câmara, one of the resolution rapporteurs, said that the CFM decision was based on scientific evidence that would show an increase in the number of regrets in relation to the gender transition process, and cases of attempted reversal of the transition process.

On the other hand, the rapporteur stated that the norm also took into account research that shows otherwise, that the regret index is low. According to Chamber, there is a “overdiagnosis” of trans people, which would lead to a high regret index in relation to the process.

“More children and adolescents are being diagnosed with gender dysphoria and treatment. Many children who could not be trans, but simply gay and lesbians in the future,” he said.

The doctor admitted, however, that there is no response on the subject, because existing studies have no robust evidence. “Sometimes the lack of evidence requires prudence,” he said. According to him, studies have been analyzed that show from a 2% rate of regret to research that indicates up to 40%.

Also at the press conference, the president of CFM, Hiran Gallo, said that doctors who fail to comply with the resolution of the agency will be punished with measures such as warning, censorship, suspension or even revocation of registration. “It is a standard of the Federal Council of Medicine that has to be fulfilled,” said Gallo.

Expert associations and doctors criticize the decision

Associations linked to the transgender population criticized the resolution. The National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals (Antra) published in its Instagram profile a public note of repudiation of the change in CFM resolution. According to the entity, this is “a coordinated action that dialogues with the growing antrans agenda at the global level, marked by policies and discourses that directly attack the existence, dignity and basic rights of our population.”

The Mothers Association for Diversity also publicly positioned itself on the resolution and said it had filed a representation to the Federal Public Prosecution Service (MPF) against the CFM decision. The MPF instituted on Monday (14) a procedure to investigate the legality of the resolution.

Tayane Muniz Fighera, coordinator of the Department of Female Endocrinology, Andrology and Transgenderity of the Brazilian Society of Endocrinology and Metabology (SBEM), speaks to CNN Regarding the risk of the prohibition to increase the search for alternative hormonal treatments without adequate scientific evidence and without medical follow -up.

“What we see in practice is that many of these people come to us with a longtime hormone abuse story because they could not find the welcome of a professional who, in fact, managed to provide proper care. They do not stop doing the treatment, because the dysphoria brings a lot of suffering to these people, but they end up doing wrong,” says Fighera.

Another concern is about the mental health of the transgender population. From the point of view of Emmanuel Nasser, gynecologist and obstetrician specializing in the care of the LGBTQIAP+population, the resolution may have a significant impact on the mental health of patients.

“We are talking about social isolation, increased school evasion, increased refractory depression index, increased suicidal ideation or even consummation of self-termination, as well as self-mutilation. Therefore, we are talking about an absurd impact on their mental health, either by depriving them from accessing hormonal technologies from 16 years old, and from whether these children access the hormonal block.” Nasser to CNN .

*With information from Paula Ferreira, from Estadão Content

Study: Hormonal therapy reduces risk of depression in transgender

This content was originally published in see other countries that see hormonal therapies for trans adolescents on CNN Brazil.

Source: CNN Brasil