A Lethbridge doctor says she will offer gender-affirming care to patients with “no age limit.”Dr. Jillian Demontigny, who practices at Medicentres Haig West, lists that statement on her page on the Trans Wellness Initiative website even though, as of last week, the Alberta government tabled Bill 9 — the Protecting Alberta’s Children Statutes Amendment Act — by using the notwithstanding clause to ban transgender surgeries for those under 18 years old and puberty/hormone treatments for individuals under 16 years of age..One of the three bills affected by Bill 9’s amendments is Bill 26, which prohibits the use of medications to pause puberty and the use of hormone therapy to cause permanent physical changes in the body, such as the development of breasts or the growth of facial hair.In a Nov. 22 post on X, Dr. Kristopher Wells, a Canadian senator and an outspoken activist for the LGBTQ community, wrote, “listen to the doctors” and posted an article featuring Demontigny railing against the new legislation..Demontigny — one of the few Alberta physicians who openly provides these treatments to children — has called the law “heavy-handed” and has joined the Canadian Medical Association’s constitutional challenge against it..She says that the safety of puberty blockers is well-established, as they are prescribed to children even much younger than pubescent age to treat precocious puberty, which occurs when puberty begins much earlier than usual in children.“That use of the same medication isn’t under threat. This is really just targeting its use in trans kids,” she told the Medicine Hat News, also stating that there is no evidence to suggest that any harm has been caused by the treatment of transgender youth in Alberta younger than 16.However, a growing body of international evidence has reached a different conclusion.The United Kingdom’s 2024 Cass Review — one of the most thorough analysis's conducted on pediatric gender medicine — found no reliable proof that puberty blockers improve mental health and that research on benefits was “poor,” while documenting clear harms to bone density, fertility, and sexual development.After that review, puberty blockers were banned from being prescribed by Britain’s National Health Service (NHS).Other countries such as Sweden, Finland, and Norway have all restricted or ended the practice for minors as well..SLOBODIAN: BC’s barbaric secret — Teen girls mutilated in ‘gender affirming clinics’ while NDP politicians cheer.In a 2024 Mayo Clinic study of testicular tissue from 87 boys on puberty blockers, it was revealed that there was widespread atrophy and arrested sperm production — changes that the study’s authors described as “severe and potentially irreversible.”Studies on long-term bone density have also shown that adolescents who spend their critical growth years on these drugs routinely end up with densities one to two standard deviations below normal, a deficit that often never recovers.In a statement to the Western Standard, the Ministry of Primary and Preventative Health Services stated that, "Bill 26, the Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2024, prohibits both gender reassignment surgery for children under 18 and the provision of puberty blockers and hormone treatments for the purpose of gender reassignment to children under 16. "If Bill 9 is passed, these laws will stand without further court delay. Alberta’s government has been clear all along – we are prepared to use every legal and constitutional tool available to protect the health and well-being of children. Our government will be unapologetic in our commitment to these principles.”Despite ongoing criticisms, Premier Danielle Smith has been unequivocal in her approach to the issue and in defending the use of the notwithstanding clause, saying that a child’s fertility should be preserved into adulthood and that parents, and not activists or courts, should have the final say on life-altering medical decisions.“Kids have to go through puberty in order to be able to have kids, that’s just the way it is,” she said.“Becoming sexually mature means something, and we want to make sure that at the age of 16, when they’re old enough to be able to make these decisions for themselves and understand the full consequences of it, they can begin that journey.”The Western Standard reached out to Demontigny’s office for comment.
