Alberta's Premier has brought forward legislation that intrudes on the doctor-patient relationship and irreparably harm trans kids.
This is your chance to go on record and make it clear where you stand in this pivotal moment in Alberta history.
This legislation bans access of gender-affirming care instead of trusting in the expertise of trans and gender diverse youth, their parents & caregivers, and their mental health and healthcare professionals to determine the best course of action for their care to maximize physical and mental wellbeing.
Countless pieces of scientific and evidence-based practices show that gender affirming care are essential services that save lives.
Gender-affirming care works. It’s well-documented and scientifically proven.
These are lives that can not be threatened by political motivations.
We cannot allow some people’s discomfort with this care to dictate which effective medical treatments are available for the people who need them. We cannot restrict gender affirming health care because the Premier “just doesn’t feel right about it” (press conference - Feb 1, 2024).
The Doctor-Family-Patient Relationship is Sacred and Sacrosanct
Allowing government legislation to invade this relationship is dangerous and sets a troubling precedent. In America, and now in Alberta, the same forces pushing these bans and restrictions are also targeting women’s rights, birth control, reproductive healthcare, and IVF.
We know effective advocacy can reverse policies. In fact, it has happened before. We need to do this now.
The government has taken a sledgehammer to Alberta’s healthcare. Healthcare decisions require a scalpel’s precision and need to remain carefully individualized to the patient and their family, free from political interference.
We can’t let this legislation pass.
The government has brought forward legislation that will remove the option to access numerous forms of affirming care for trans and gender diverse youth.
Our goal is to stop this legislation from being passed so trans Albertans can avoid suffering the harm of being denied life-saving care.
This legislation threatens to restrict, ban or increase barriers to the access of gender-affirming care instead of trusting in the expertise of trans and gender diverse youth, their parents & caregivers, and their mental health and healthcare professionals to determine the best course of action for their care to maximize physical and mental wellbeing.
This legislation endangers vulnerable youth and sets a dangerous precedent for the government to dictate who is able to access the healthcare they need based on political agendas.
Much of the discussion online is driven by misinformation. Legislators must make decisions based on evidence and facts, not fear mongering and misinformation. If Alberta's MLAs look at the facts and the evidence, they will reject any legislation that restricts or bans gender-affirming care and leaves medical and mental health care to the patients and their families as supported and guided by trained professionals.
Gender affirming care includes a wide variety to services provided by professionals in the healthcare, mental health, as well as many other fields that support a person’s well being, that aim to improve an individual’s emotional, social and physical wellbeing through supporting more congruency between someone’s gender identity and their ability to outwardly embody who they truly are.
It is an essential part of validating and affirming someone’s gender identity and has been shown in extensive research to be one of the most significant factors in improving quality of life and acting as a resiliency factor against adverse mental health challenges that stem from societal invalidation, discrimination, and violence.
No. The opposite, in fact.
Caregivers are also an essential part of their child’s care. Providing affirming care means a collaboration between healthcare professionals, family and the youth themselves to work together to create a one-fits-one care plan that is in the best interest of the youth’s weelbeing. By introducing legislation that would ban or restrict access to aspects of life-saving and highly-effective gender affirming care that are currently available to families, the Premier has deprived parents and families of crucial options and avenue essential to their child’s ability to flourish.
Gender-affirming care is essential, life-saving healthcare supported by extensive scientific evidence.
The benefits, risks and side-effects of all these forms of care is well studied and proven to be overwhelmingly positive and effective with the rates of individuals experiencing any regret being a fraction what is is for other similar forms of medical care. By limiting access to these essential services, the legislation will seriously harm to those who rely on this care for their physical and mental well-being.
There is a lot of misinformation and fear-mongering being directed at the trans community right now fueling adversity. Despite all this the facts are clear:
Gender-affirming care is supported by a wide range of professional organizations, including the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, the Canadian Medical Association, as well as every provincial medical association and over 100 other professional colleges, associations and organizations . These organizations, along with many healthcare professionals, recognize that gender-affirming care is a necessary and life-saving part of healthcare for many trans and gender-diverse individuals.
If this legislation is passed, it would, at best, create significant barriers, and at worst, completely remove access to necessary healthcare for trans and gender-diverse youth. Without the resiliency factors that timely access to competent affirming care provides, the evidence shows us we are likely to see a significant increase in mental health challenges, including depression, anxiety, self-harming behaviours and suicidality among those youth affected.
You can start by signing our online petition on this page and signing the physical paper petition too, these are both crucial steps in showing widespread opposition to the proposed legislation. Beyond that, you can spread the word by sharing the petition online and paper with friends, family, and on social media. Attending local events, writing to your MLA, and educating others about the importance of gender-affirming care are also powerful ways to contribute.