HEALTH: Why Europe and America are going in opposite directions on youth transgender medicine.

If implemented in American clinics, the European approach would effectively deny puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to most adolescents who are receiving these drugs today. Unlike in the U.S., in Europe surgeries are generally off the table before adulthood.

Why are more countries turning their backs on what American medical associations, most Democrats and the American Civil Liberties Union call “medically necessary” and “life-saving” care? The answer is that Europeans are following principles of evidence-based medicine (EBM), while Americans are not.

A bedrock principle of EBM is that medical recommendations should be grounded in the best available research.

That doesn’t count basing it on somebody’s college Gender Studies essay.