A new poll has found more than 2:1 support for the ban on puberty blockers announced recently by the government, with only 23 per cent opposing the ban.
In the poll commissioned by Family First NZ and undertaken independently by Curia Market Research in the first week of December, respondents were asked:
The government has announced that there will be a ban on new prescriptions of puberty blockers for young people with gender dysphoria or incongruence. Do you agree or disagree with this decision?.
A majority of 50 per cent support the ban, with only 23 per cent opposed. A further 27 per cent were unsure.
Males were more likely to support the ban than females and, significantly, for those in the younger age group (18–39), only one in five of that age bracket oppose the ban. Māori and Pacifika were also more likely to oppose the ban, Asian less likely.
National, ACT, NZ First and Te Pāti Māori supporters had net favourability to the ban, with Labour voters evenly split, and Green voters unsurprisingly opposed.
“With less than one in four opposing the decision by the government, the Minister of Health Simeon Brown can be confident that the majority of the public are on side with this decision which was clearly based on science and health – not politics as claimed by supporters of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones,” said Bob McCoskrie, CEO of Family First.
The decision is clearly based on the Ministry of Health’s Evidence Brief, which “…found a lack of good quality evidence for the effectiveness or safety of puberty blocking treatment in young people with gender dysphoria. We do not have good evidence to say that the medicines used improve the longer-term outcomes for young people with gender-related health needs – nor that the potential longer-term risks are low.”
This brief sits alongside a growing literature of concern around puberty blockers, including the United Kingdom’s CASS Review, and in line with many other countries who have either restricted or banned the experimental use of puberty blockers on children suffering gender dysphoria – United Kingdom, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and many states within the USA.
“The general public can see that healing the mind – not cutting the body – is the solution to gender dysphoria.”
This article was originally published by Family First New Zealand.
