Access to transgender hormone therapy

Key aspects

• In twenty Member States, access to transgender hormone therapy is provided for children under the same conditions applied to access any other medical treatment, such as access to reproductive or sexual health services. In this context, the age requirement for access to medical treatment without the consent of a public authority and/or parents is 18 years in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, France, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, 16 years in Poland and Spain; 15 years in Denmark and Slovenia; 14 years in Latvia. In the United Kingdom the age requirement ranges from 16 in Scotland to 17 in England and 18 in Wales. In seven Member States, Belgium, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg and Sweden, access depends on the maturity of the child.
• In Austria, Croatia, Italy, Lithuania and Portugal, the minimum age requirement for access to transgender hormone therapy is explicitly set at the age of 18 which is stricter than age at which children can access reproductive or sexual health services without parental consent. However, Croatia also allows children to have access to transgender hormone therapy before the age of 18 if they have parental consent, without laying down any specific age requirement.
• In twelve Member States, both the regulations for general surgery and express thresholds for transgender hormone therapy dictate the age of 18.
• In Ireland, Malta and the Netherlands, the age requirement for access to transgender hormone therapy is 16 years. In the Netherlands, children can access such therapy from the age of 12 years with parental consent.