Alberta Premier Danielle Smith pointed to international evidence to support her opposition to children using puberty blockers as she faces pressure from groups opposed to her recent ban.
While speaking at a news conference on Wednesday about her morning meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Smith fielded various questions about her government’s stance on policies affecting the transgender community.
“We are going to make sure that any individual who is transitioning is supported,” said Smith.
She raised concerns that the province may have gaps in accessible medical coverage. Some of the surgeries are unavailable in Alberta, she explained. Proper surgical aftercare may be lacklustre, and there can be difficulties for those on hormone replacement or hormone therapy to get much-needed lifelong medical support.
Smith continued by discussing at what point life-altering decisions such as gender transitions should be made.
“The developing international evidence is that there’s no consensus on this,” she said. Smith pointed to the United Kingdom’s National Health Service, which recently announced that it would not be offering puberty blockers to people under the age of 18.
The National Health Service published a clinical policy on Tuesday.
“We have concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of PSH [Puberty Suppressing Hormones] to make the treatment routinely available at this time,” said the service.
Alberta’s premier said that the province wants to be cautious and ensure that children are old enough to understand the consequences when making such life-altering decisions.
“Because we are talking about sterility. If you stop the process of puberty and then you do cross-sex hormones, you don’t develop and become sexually mature. You can’t have children,” said Smith.
When looking at international evidence and receiving feedback from individuals in the field, Smith said that the province is uncomfortable offering puberty blockers to those aged 15 and under.
“We have agreed that we believe that children who have good medical care, psychological support, and supportive family can start when they’re 16. And I think that increasingly is going to be supported by the international evidence,” she said.
The Canadian Medical Association published a news release on Wednesday saying that “medical associations across the country oppose government efforts to restrict access to care.”
Thirteen doctors signed the news release; the signatories were from ten provincial associations, two territorial associations, and the Canadian Medical Association.
“There is no one-size-fits-all approach for patients experiencing gender dysphoria. Restricting choices and appropriate care for patients can lead to permanent harm,” said the news release.
The doctors urged all levels of government to consult with experts before implementing any major policy changes related to health care for the 2SLGTBQ+ community.
The premier confirmed Trudeau spoke with her about Alberta’s recently announced policies to ban medical transitions for children under 16 years old and to protect women’s sports.
She added that the province will conduct a review of its medical practices and ensure that young individuals are receiving full diagnoses of gender dysphoria, with proper medical support and mental health counselling to help them through the process.
Radio-Canada, CBC’s French division, recently revealed an investigation where a 14-year-old girl quickly obtained a prescription for cross-sex hormones without the consent of their parents or a medical referral.
Smith referenced the investigation during her press conference.
“If that is happening on a broad scale, that doesn’t seem to have the rigour I think most people would expect around medical procedures,” said Smith.
She added that these are adult decisions and situations where young children are getting locked into a particular path affecting their fertility without understanding the full impacts should not be occurring.
“So, we’re looking and taking guidance from the medical profession internationally, and I hope that we can find some common ground,” said Alberta’s premier.
“We want to support anyone in their journey to become who they’re going to be, but we want to make sure that they’re doing so with the full understanding of what those consequences might be.”
