ACT Passes First Laws Protecting Intersex People From Unwanted Surgeries

The ACT Government has voted unanimously to implement laws protecting intersex people from undergoing medical procedures without their consent.

Following decades of advocacy from activists and organisations, the landmark vote has passed the Sex Characteristics (Restricted Medical Treatment) Bill 2023, which will introduce systems of bodily autonomy for intersex individuals in the nation’s capital.

It is the first of its kind to do so in Australia.

The bill as a whole has been voted on. The ayes have it. The legislation is passed. #VSCRMTBill pic.twitter.com/hdEVzY0YNa

— Intersex Human Rights Australia (@intersexaus) June 8, 2023

A Landmark Vote

Executive Director of advocacy organisation A Gender Agenda (AGA), Vik Fraser, discusses the importance of the decision and such systems– highlighting how they promote human rights and individuality.

“Children born with innate variations of sex characteristics should be able to make their own decisions about their own bodies, based on individual values and in accordance with human rights,” they said in a statement.

“Embedding the medical treatment of children born with innate variations of sex characteristics into a human rights framework is a huge, positive step forward and we thank and commend the Chief Minister and the ACT Government for leading the nation on this matter.”

The bill itself takes a two-pronged approach to upholding personal freedom for intersex individuals.

It firstly imposes restrictions on medical procedures aimed at “altering the sex characteristics” of intersex people, except with express “personal consent, in emergencies, or when authorised by an independent assessment board.”

Secondly, it will introduce “an independent assessment board with committees comprised of people with lived experience and experts in medicine, human rights, ethics and psychosocial support”, who are responsible for overseeing “medical treatment plans for intersex children and others who do not have capacity to consent.”

Looking Ahead

Ultimately, this approach works to counteract an enduring practice of ill-informed, ethically dubious, and categorically unnecessary body of surgeries performed on intersex people which strips them of autonomy and can have permanent physical and psychological effects.

These include:

• Loss of sexual function and sensation
• Loss of fertility
• Urinary tract issues, including incontinence
• A need for ongoing medical treatment/repeat surgeries
• Incorrect gender assignment

Now that the decision has passed, activists across the country are calling for the decision to extend nationwide.

Equality Australia CEO Anna Brown elaborates, emphasising how the vote provides an ideal jumping-off point for other states and territories to follow suit.

“Every intersex person in Australia should be able to grow up to live a full and dignified life in which they decide what happens to their own bodies,” she said

“It’s now time for the rest of the country to commit to protecting future generations of intersex Australians from medical procedures that can be deferred until they are old enough to decide for themselves.”