How Alberta’s Child Gender Transition Restrictions Compare to US States’

A Comparison of Alberta’s Child Gender Transition Restrictions with Those of US States

February 1, 2024 TruthUSA

Alberta’s sweeping changes on restricting medical transition for children is a first in Canada in the face of ever-increasing numbers of children surgically altering their bodies.

Before the province’s latest announced policies, a number of U.S. states implemented their own bans on changing the bodies of minors.

In 2023, Florida passed legislation that bans gender-reassignment prescriptions and procedures for those under 18. The legislation also allows the state to step in and take custody of a child if they are under 18 and there is concern that gender-reassignment treatments are being used or will be used on the child.

Shortly after Florida passed the legislation, Texas also passed a law that restricts health care providers from performing gender reassignment surgery on those under 18 years of age. Health care providers are also prohibited from providing or prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapies meant to change a child’s body to that of a different sex.

Utah has also prohibited transgender surgeries on those under 18 years of age. It also restricts hormone treatments for those who were not diagnosed with gender dysphoria before the bill was put into effect.

About 19 other U.S. states have put bans or restrictions on transgender medical care for children, including Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North and South Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennesse, and West Virginia.

Rise of Transgender Treatments

Statistics from Grand View Research say the gender reassignment industry earned $2.1 billion in 2022, and that number is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.25 percent from 2023 to 2030.

Numbers gathered by Reuters show that the number of minors seeking transgender care nearly tripled between 2017 and 2021.

In 2017, 15,172 children and teens in the United States were diagnosed with gender dysphoria. By 2021, that number was 42,167.

The data show that “top surgeries” are more common with teens than other transgender surgeries.

From 2019–2021, at least 776 mastectomies, the surgical removal of breasts, were performed in the United States on patients ages 13 to 17 with a gender dysphoria diagnosis. The information is based on insurance claims and does not include treatments that were privately paid for.

Alberta Bans Transgender Surgeries, Medications for Children

In Alberta, Premier Danielle Smith announced new provincial policies in a social media video posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Jan. 31.

In the video, Ms. Smith says that “top and bottom gender reassignment surgeries will not be permitted” for those aged 17 and under.

The premier also said that those 15 years of age and under will not be permitted to take puberty blockers or hormone therapies as part of gender reassignment treatment.

Those aged 16 and 17 will be permitted to take medications for gender reassignment “so long as they are deemed mature enough to make these decisions and have parental, physician, and psychologists’ approval,” Ms. Smith said.

Currently, Albertans seeking gender reassignment surgery travel to Quebec, but Ms. Smith said the government was looking at attracting medical professionals who specialist in transgender care.

Transgender Care in Europe

In the United Kingdom, gender transition surgery is not permitted for children under 18 years of age, and medications like puberty blockers are only permitted if the patient has met “strict criteria.” Cross-sex hormones are permitted for individuals who are 17 and have been on puberty blockers for at least 12 months.

The National Health Service (NHS) changed its policy over the past several years, first to ban access to gender change surgery for teens and in 2023 to restrict access to transgender care medications.

“Most treatments offered at this stage are psychological rather than medical,” the NHS website says. “This is because in many cases gender variant behaviour or feelings disappear as children reach puberty.”

In 2022, Sweden also began to pull back on medical interventions for children looking to change genders, following a similar move by Finland two years earlier.

Finland opted to focus on mental health interventions for those identifying as different genders.

Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare aimed to update its policy, and advise against puberty blockers, surgery, and hormonal treatments before adulthood.

Naveen Athrappully and Lily Zhou contributed to this report.

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