What the law allows
Full record
In November 2025 the government made regulations barring new prescriptions of puberty blockers for children and teens with gender dysphoria or gender incongruence (the Medicines (Restriction on Prescribing Gonadotropin-releasing Hormone Analogues) Amendment Regulations 2025). Kids already on the drugs were carved out. A court order in December 2025 stopped enforcement while the challenge was heard.
On 21 October 2026 the High Court struck the regulations down. Justice La Hood declared them "unlawful and invalid" and set them aside, finding the Ministry of Health's consultation was inadequate and that a blanket ban on new patients was "disproportionate" discrimination on the ground of disability under the Bill of Rights. The judge accepted the minister "had a rational basis" to restrict puberty blockers and that the long-term benefits "are uncertain," and said it remains "for the Minister and Cabinet to decide what, if any, restrictions should be placed."
No national restriction is in force. The government says there is "a lack of high-quality evidence" and is seeking advice on next steps. NZ First is demanding an appeal.
[High Court judgment [2026] NZHC 3248 (PDF)](https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/assets/cases/2026/2026-NZHC-3248.pdf)
Schools. The Ministry of Education’s live Relationships and sexuality education page (updated 3 November 2025) states that RSE is taught within Health and Physical Education — friendships and relationships, consent, puberty, respecting diversity and challenging stereotypes, sex education and sexual health. The 2020 RSE guides were withdrawn during the HPE refresh; this ministry page is the current official instrument.