“You’re taking parental rights away from the parents to get to choose a medical option that is available to them”
Smith announced the package of policies in a video posted to social media Wednesday, including bans on gender-affirming surgeries for those under 17, and on hormone therapy for children under 16 — except for those who have already begun therapy.
Smith has said the policies are about protecting young people from making irreversible choices.
“In the absence of providing guideposts, it really is going to be just up to the individual doctor,” she claimed, despite the Canadian Paediatric Society noting that national policy restricts bottom surgery across Canada to those aged 18 and over.
Alberta’s moves will extend that age requirement to top surgery as well, up from 16 years old. Alberta is the first province to completely ban puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy for those 15 and younger.
Dr. Sam Wong, medical director at the Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS), condemned those moves in an interview with Postmedia Friday. The society has said the policies will undermine the fundamental rights of transgender children and youth in Alberta, and increase the risk of suicide and self-harm.
“It’s really disingenuous to say this is a child’s decision,” he said, noting that the process of receiving treatment currently involves multiple physicians, counsellors, and parents.
“You’re taking parental rights away from the parents to get to choose a medical option that is available to them.”
When it comes to puberty blockers, Wong said it is crucial to stopping puberty to give time for kids to determine, until they are older, what their long-term decision might be.
“One of the misconceptions is that it causes infertility. It doesn’t cause infertility,” he said.
In a statement released Thursday, the Alberta Medical Association (AMA) also pushed back against some of Smith’s claims, noting that puberty-blocking agents are not irreversible.
The AMA warned that the mental health of these children and youth will be “markedly worse” when denied care.
“We know that transgender youth have higher rates of mental health issues and suicidality because of the stigma attached to their status. This will add to the current and future burden of mental health issues on a system that is already inadequate to meet the needs of the population,” they wrote.
“I really do think that the decisions should be made between the physician care team, the patient and the parents. I don’t think the government has any role in interfering with that particular therapeutic relationship,” he said.
The AMA and the CPS objected to the province’s plan to require a private registry of physicians to provide gender-affirming care. The AMA said it “has the feel of surveillance” and adds an unnecessary bureaucratic hurdle.
According to the provincial government, in 2022-23, there were 89 individuals approved for funding for genital reconstruction surgery in Alberta, including 36 between the ages of 18 to 25.
In the same year, nearly 2,700 claims were submitted for non-surgical interventions, or hormone treatment, by minors, although the province said it’s unknown how many of those are for gender dysphoria and how many are for other medical conditions, such as cancer treatment or endocrine disorders.
“It is estimated that treatments for reasons other than gender dysphoria represent the majority of claims,” the province said.
“Making permanent and irreversible decisions regarding one’s biological sex while still a youth can severely limit that child’s future. Prematurely encouraging or enabling children to alter their very biology or natural growth, no matter how well intentioned and sincere, poses a risk to that child’s future,” he said.
Smith indicated that she hopes to expand local access to surgical care for trans adults — saving them a trip to Quebec.
