It’s a rare day when we get to say something nice about Europe when it comes to social issues, particularly when comparing those nations to the United States. But there is one area where they are leading the way and leaving America in the dust. Multiple European countries over the past year or more have conducted thorough scientific research resulting in policies that largely ban transgender “medical care” for children. The latest to join the crowd was Norway. They have now ruled that professional guidance encouraging puberty blockers or sex-change surgery for children should be “restricted to research settings only.” (Washington Times)

Norway, hardly the model of extreme, right-wing Christian fundamentalism , joined a growing number of European countries earlier this year in a move to restrict “gender-affirming care” for minors. The Norwegian Healthcare Investigation Board ruled that guidance encouraging puberty blockers and sex-change procedures for gender-confused youths lacked medical evidence and should be restricted to research settings only.

“The knowledge base, especially research-based knowledge for gender-affirming treatment (hormonal and surgical), is deficient and the long-term effects are little known,” the UKOM, an independent government watchdog over Norway’s healthcare system, said in its report. “This is particularly true for the teenage population where the stability of their gender incongruence is also not known.”

Before anyone starts accusing the Norwegian government of hate, transphobia, racism, or whatever else, there isn’t a hint of anything like that in their new guidelines. What they are saying is that the supposed medical procedures underlying this “transition” process are not supported by science. In fact, so little science has been done in this regard that there’s almost nothing to go on. They are open to having more studies take place and compiling the data, but for now, it needs to be put on hold.

Among the teenage population in particular, almost nothing is known about the long-term effects of puberty blockers and sex-change surgery. As we’ve noted here repeatedly, in the United States, the FDA has never approved any of the GnRH Agonists such as Leuprolide (one of the most commonly prescribed drugs) for the treatment of pediatric gender dysphoria. Those drugs were only approved for the treatment of precocious puberty and certain forms of cancer. And an FDA spokesman told me personally that the FDA is “unaware of any clinical trials” exploring the use of those drugs for this purpose.

In other words, nobody is “following the science” about transgender treatments because the science doesn’t exist. And any activist doctors telling you otherwise are lying. The doctors prescribing these drugs are doing so via what are known as “off-label prescriptions.” And in case you missed it, one trans-18-year-old male died after doctors attempted to turn part of his large intestine into a “vagina.” Does that sound like any sort of procedure that’s ever been studied or approved anywhere in the world? These so-called doctors are just winging it as they go.

Could we send a delegation from the NIH and the FDA to Norway to sit down for a conference with some of their medical officials? Is that even possible? There is a horror show going on under their noses in the guise of modern medicine. And it seems like everyone in the American government is too frightened of being canceled to say anything about it.