{"id":389146,"date":"2026-04-20T18:51:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/389146\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T18:51:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:51:27","slug":"is-alberta-really-following-the-science-on-trans-healthcare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/389146\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Alberta really \u2018following the science\u2019 on trans healthcare?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Alberta government under Premier Danielle Smith\u2019s government has banned gender-affirming health care for youth<\/a> in the province. This legislation<\/a> bans access to puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormone replacement therapy for youth aged 15 and younger for the treatment of gender dysphoria, with few exceptions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2024, two organizations, Skipping Stone<\/a> and Egale Canada<\/a>, challenged the legislation in court and secured a temporary injunction on the grounds that the ban would inflict irreparable harm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Instead of appealing this decision, in December 2025, the Alberta government invoked the notwithstanding clause<\/a> to guard Bill 26, along with two other anti-2SLGBTQIA+ bills (Bills 27 and 29), from court oversight.<\/p>\n

As a result, these laws cannot be challenged in court as unconstitutional<\/a> under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for five years.<\/p>\n

Smith and her government claim that their ban on gender-affirming care is \u201cfollowing the science<\/a>,\u201d saying it reflects findings from the United Kingdom suggesting there is insufficient clinical evidence about both the benefits and risks of gender-affirming care for youth.<\/p>\n

In a media interview<\/a>, Smith stated: \u201cIf we want to take a science-based approach, we\u2019ve got to use the best information available.\u201d<\/p>\n

But is Alberta actually using the best available evidence?<\/p>\n

How U.K. research is being used<\/p>\n

Much of Alberta\u2019s justification for its restrictions draws on the Cass Review<\/a> \u2014 an independent but controversial<\/a> review of gender identity services for children and youth in the U.K. published in 2024. <\/p>\n

The final report called to limit routine prescription of puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria. <\/p>\n

Following the publication of the Cass Review, England\u2019s National Health Service closed the Tavistock Clinic, the only specialized youth gender clinic in the U.K. at the time. Since then, NHS England has made puberty blockers available only for clinical trials<\/a>, the first of which has recently been halted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

An exam room is seen at a health clinic in Calgary in 2023. The Cass Review\u2019s final report recommended that puberty blockers no longer be routinely prescribed for treating gender dysphoria outside of a clinical trial setting.
\n THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Jeff McIntosh<\/p>\n

Data from England\u2019s National Child Mortality Database shows that suicides among trans youth surged to 22 in 2021-22<\/a>, the same year NHS England announced it would close the Tavistock clinic. In the two previous years, the number of trans youth suicides were four in 2020 and five in 2019 \u2014 a fivefold increase.<\/p>\n

This outcome raises serious concerns about the potential consequences of limiting access to gender-affirming healthcare. <\/p>\n

What the global evidence shows<\/p>\n

Recent research from other jurisdictions has emerged about the effectiveness of gender-affirming care for youth and the harms of restricting access to it.<\/p>\n

In 2024, a peer-reviewed study<\/a> illustrated the effects of anti-trans legislation in the United States, where 48 such laws were enacted across 19 states between 2018 and 2022. Using national data from 61,000 trans and non-binary youth, the researchers found that anti-trans laws were associated with increases in suicide attempts of up to 72 per cent.<\/p>\n

At the same time, clinical research on gender-affirming care has found that it has a positive impact on youth mental health. A 2025 study<\/a> examined suicidality<\/a> outcomes among 432 youth receiving hormone therapy.<\/p>\n

The study found that hormone therapy correlated with a decrease in suicidality scores. Youth who received puberty blockers prior to hormone therapy showed lower suicidality compared with the overall sample.<\/p>\n

When governments dismiss their own evidence<\/p>\n

Alberta is not alone in selectively interpreting evidence for political reasons. In 2023, Utah lawmakers introduced a moratorium on gender-affirming care for trans youth<\/a>, citing potential health and safety risks. The legislature commissioned a comprehensive review of existing research into the effects of hormone treatments.<\/p>\n

The resulting 2025 report<\/a> \u2014 based on 277 studies and more than 28,000 pediatric patients globally \u2014 concluded that puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy are effective, safe, pose minimal risk and have low regret rates. It found there is no evidence-based justification for limiting access.<\/p>\n

Despite this, Utah lawmakers dismissed their own 1,000-page report<\/a> and have permanently banned gender-affirming care for youth.<\/p>\n

This dismissal of evidence reflects a disturbing trend of politicians being unwilling to engage with information that is inconvenient to their interests while claiming they are following \u201cthe science.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does Canadian evidence tell us?<\/p>\n

In Canada, research is also beginning to document the impacts of these policies. Since 2024, our research team has been collecting data about the impacts of the anti-2SLGBTQIA+ legislation in Alberta.<\/p>\n

Using focus groups, interviews and a survey, we have engaged with more than 100 parents and caregivers of trans and gender-diverse youth across the province. Our research<\/a> illustrates the immediate and ongoing effects of legislating trans youth\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n

In our survey, 56 per cent of parents of trans and gender-diverse youth reported that their child\u2019s mental health has deteriorated since the announcement of the ban on gender-affirming care. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Protesters gather at the legislature during a rally for Trans rights in Edmonton on Feb. 4, 2024.
\n THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Amber Bracken<\/p>\n

In focus groups and interviews, parents and caregivers reported a steep decline in their children\u2019s mental health and well-being, including increased anxiety, school absenteeism, self-harm and suicidal ideation.<\/p>\n

Reports of bullying and harassment have also increased, and families reported that public support \u2014 including from neighbours, schools and places of worship \u2014 has declined across the province.<\/p>\n

According to our survey, 95.6 per cent of parents and caregivers believe the current negative climate for 2SLGBTQIA+ youth is directly related to the Alberta legislation. <\/p>\n

The stakes are high for Alberta\u2019s youth<\/p>\n

There is now clear and growing evidence that restricting access to gender-affirming care in Alberta is actively harming trans and gender-diverse youth, most notably via declines in mental health and an increased risk of suicidality.<\/p>\n

If Alberta\u2019s government is committed to following the science, it must engage with the full body of evidence, not selectively cite it. That includes research showing the risks of denying it. <\/p>\n

The implications extend beyond Alberta. Given what we have seen globally and in Alberta, changes in governments in other provinces and territories could bring about similar policies, even in places currently seen as supportive of 2SLGBTQIA+ youth.<\/p>\n

The question facing policymakers is no longer whether evidence supporting gender-affirming care for youth exists, but whether they are willing to act on it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Alberta government under Premier Danielle Smith\u2019s government has banned gender-affirming health care for youth in the province.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[134,527,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-389146","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}