Parental rights or state might?
Fundamental Truths — Red Deer — January 10, 2026
Among the highlights of the one-day Fundamental Truths event in Red Deer, Alberta, this debate during the closing Q&A session examined the fundamental principles behind where ultimate authority lies on difficult issues of bodily autonomy and gender dysphoric children.
In a discussion featuring legal scholar Professor Bruce Pardy and anti-gender ideology activist Mia Hughes, panel guests explored the complexities of parental authority in medical decisions for children.
Mia Hughes launched the conversation with the question: “Let me give you a hypothetical. Let’s say a child says, ‘I want my leg chopped off.’ And the parents say, ‘Yes, my child should be an amputee because they have an innate amputee identity and it’s their true self.’ Should the parents be able to make that decision?”
Prof. Pardy framed the stakes in the form of another question: “What is the principle upon which we distinguish that situation from the situation where, for example, the parent and the child don’t want to get vaccinated, and the state says, ‘Well, that’s not a good idea’? What’s the principle involved?”
The conversation raised questions about whether parents or the state should have the final say in such matters, with some panelists arguing that concentrating power in the hands of state decision-makers guarantees that “bad decisions” will be the outcome.
“Is there not a place for the government to step in?” countered Hughes, referring to the “stacks and stacks of evidence” that challenge the ethics of gender medicine.
How does society address the potential for harmful decisions by parents without granting excessive power to the state? What role should government play in regulating medical practices that lack scientific evidence?
View the discussion in full below:
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