Banned in some European countries, the attribution of a gender at birth through operations did not have an echo in France, when the bioethics law was adopted.
It is a great victory for those who supported PMA (medically assisted procreation). But despite encouraging progress, some requests have remained silent. As Têtu magazine points out, this is a failed act regarding the ban on mutilation of intersex people at birth.
When a baby is born and its gender is unclear and classically female or male, doctors, most often with parental permission, can operate on the child to "bring it into the norm."
For Guillaume Chiche, EDS deputy (Ecology, Democracy, Solidarity), the rejected amendment could have "put an end to treatments and surgical operations of the genitals performed on newborns and intersex infants at an early age without any medical necessity (…) except for vital necessity, no irreversible treatment or surgical act aimed at defining sexual characteristics may be carried out on a minor until the person concerned is able to express his or her own consent after having received information. adapted to his age (…) These operations (….) entail serious consequences for life for the latter and very many complications ", can we read in the text relayed on the Twitter account of the elected.
The politician is not the only one who wanted to make things happen, many associations denounced this act as the union of young general practitioners: "the rejection of the decree putting an end to intersex mutilation goes against all the recommendations international rights and the rights of the child. We, young doctors, strongly oppose the continuation of these acts by people claiming to be of the medical profession. ", words declared in a tweet.
The Ouest France newspaper recalls that around the world, around 1.7% of the population is born intersex. And for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, these operations are a "human rights violation". Even the Civil Code, article 16 of which gives reason for the prohibition, since it is stated that "the integrity of the human body can only be violated in the event of medical necessity for the person".
In a report by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights in 2015, almost 96% of intersex people received hormonal treatment, 38% had a reduction of a clitoris deemed "too long", 33% of vaginal operations and 13% a "correction" of their urinary tract.
As of June 26, Albania became the third country (after Malta and Portugal) to put into effect a protocol banning surgery on children born intersex unless the surgery is medically necessary. Radiation and criminal prosecution may be triggered if the doctor does not follow this text.
If the fight is not over, measures have, all the same, been decided. It is thus planned, according to Article 21 Bis, the creation of a tool to control the purpose of medical acts. Specialized multidisciplinary teams will discuss cases of variation in sexual development to make a diagnosis and define all the treatment options to be considered. And these teams in association with the doctors will have to inform the parents about the possibility of "access to fertility preservation programs".
A period of reflection will be offered to parents as well as psycho-social support for the child and the family.