Doctors, nurses and medical groups urge province to walk back plans to limit gender-affirming care

Sweeping changes to gender-affirming care, announced by the Alberta government this week, are sparking widespread backlash and condemnation from doctors, nurses and medical organizations, and calls are mounting for the province to reverse its decision.

Touting it as a move to protect children, Premier Danielle Smith positioned Alberta as the most restrictive in Canada and introduced a suite of policies impacting transgender youth this week, including a ban on the use of puberty blocking medication and hormone therapy in children under 16, for the purposes of gender affirmation.

While Smith also announced a prohibition on gender-affirming surgeries in children under 18, lower surgeries are already restricted to people over 18, and doctors say top surgeries are very rarely performed on older teens.

"This is a direct attack on trans youth," said Dr. Ted Jablonski, a Calgary family physician who specializes in transgender care. "This is an assault on their medical care."

Jablonski has been treating transgender Calgarians for more than two decades.

"I feel like we've stepped back in time," he said.

"There's no medical evidence to make any kind of restrictions. We have very good guidelines to manage trans youth."

These guidelines include a detailed position statement published by the Canadian Paediatric Society and standards of care published by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

The pediatrics section of the Alberta Medical Association issued a statement late Thursday, calling on the provincial government to back off of its plan.

"Children and youth have the right to the appropriate medical care, at the appropriate time, and this should not be denied to them," the statement said.

"We urge the Premier, in the strongest terms, to reconsider the proposed changes for care of transgender youth."

The Canadian Paediatric Society also condemned the plan and called on the premier to walk it back.

"We are deeply concerned that implementation of these policies will not only undermine the fundamental rights of transgender children and youth in Alberta, but will lead to significant negative health outcomes, including increased risk of suicide and self-harm," the group said in a letter to Smith.

Facing a barrage of criticism, Smith defended her government's plan at a news conference on Thursday.