New Laws Protecting Intersex People From Unnecessary Medical Procedures Pass In Victoria
Image: Intersex advocates on the steps of Victorian Parliament. Image courtesy InterAction/ Instagram
The Victorian Parliament has passed landmark legislation protecting children born with variations in sex characteristics from unnecessary medical procedures without their consent, in a move celebrated by Intersex advocates and LGBTIQ+ organisations.
The bill passed the Upper House with multipartisan support 24 votes to 15.
Victoria is now the first state — and the second jurisdiction in the country after the ACT — to enshrine these protections in law. It joins only a handful of countries around the world that have implemented protections from medically unnecessary/ non-consensual surgeries for intersex people.
Independent assessment panels will oversee proposed treatment plans for children born with innate variations of their sex characteristics, with additional support for parents and clinicians.
The reforms follow decades of advocacy by intersex people and community organisations.
“It is such a powerful moment for the bill to pass with such broad support. Thank you to the members of the Legislative Council, and thank you to the Victorian government for bringing the bill before parliament in an election year,” said Dr Morgan Carpenter, bioethicist and Executive Director of Intersex Human Rights Australia (IHRA), in response to the bill passing.
“This shows that intersex issues need not be controversial, and need not imply a loss of political capital. It is time for other jurisdictions to introduce and enact the same protections.”
What’s in the Bill?
People with intersex traits differ from medical and social norms for male and female bodies including differences in anatomy, reproductive organs or hormonal and chromosomal patterns. At least 40 known variations occur across approximately 1.7 per cent of the population.
Intersex children often undergo medical procedures before reaching the age of consent that can have long-term consequences, including incorrect gender assignment, loss of sexual function and sensation, loss of fertility, urinary tract issues, and the need for ongoing medical treatment, all of which can lead to a loss of autonomy and lack of choice.
“People with intersex variations routinely undergo harmful practices – unnecessary medical interventions before we can consent – to make our bodies fit gender stereotypes or to mitigate hypothetical risks of stigmatisation,” writes Dr Carpenter.
The Victorian Bill includes restrictions on any permanent or hard-to-reverse medical treatments altering the sex characteristics of intersex children or adults unable to give informed consent. It will also see the creation of an independent expert panel made up of people with lived experience and experts across medicine, human rights, ethics, mental health and law, to oversee medical treatment plans for intersex children and others who don’t have capacity to consent.
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A report released by Equality Australia highlights the current landscape of these interventions and provides insight into current surgical and other medical interventions on intersex children in Australia and the rationales driving these decisions.
“I am incredibly proud to see Victoria take this historic step for the next generation,” says Tony Briffa, long standing intersex advocate in Victoria.
“I have carried the weight of decisions made about my body without my consent — choices that changed my life forever, and that could have waited until I was old enough to understand and speak for myself.It has taken years of pain and healing to reclaim who I am, unlearn the shame and finally understand that I was always enough.Our bodily differences are a natural part of human diversity. Surgical or hormonal interventions should proceed only where there is clear medical necessity — and where that need outweighs the risk of causing lifelong harm.”
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