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South Africa on Tuesday (11/30) took up the issue of intersex surgeries.
Local television station, News 24, reported that the South Africa Human Rights Commission is considering enacting legislation about intersex genital surgeries. Additionally, they are considering amending their equality laws to include intersex as an additional definition of sex.
Sally Gross, an intersex activist and founder of the Intersex Society of South Africa testified at the hearing. Commission Chairman Jody Kollapen noted that legislation alone will not necessarily change the way society regards intersex.
The news report about the hearing is online at http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1629028,00.html
Bodies Like Ours is pleased to see intersex genital surgeries become a focus of government entities. Here in the US, the city of San Francisco Human Right Commission is also considering the issue of non-consensual genital surgeries.
We are not in favor of a total moratorium or ban of any sort by legislation because it would leave decisions before judges or lawmakers who may not be equipped to make diffucult decisions. We do however favor legislation that strengthens informed consent laws and makes it more difficult to obtain experimental cosmetic genital surgeries that are not medically necessary for the health of the child.
Currently, practically every medical specialty is strictly governed regarding experimental procedures and reporting of results. Additionally, experimental procedures are generally not allowed for children who cannot agree to participate in such experiments except in life-saving situations Currently there are no long-term studies that prove cosmetic genital surgeries are beneficial for children who receive them without their consent. Thus they remain experimental in nature and should be subject to the same standards and reporting requirements that any other experimental procedures are subjected to under current law.
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