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Australia Moves Closer to Ending Harmful Intersex Surgeries

Rights Body Urges End to Early ‘Normalizing’ Interventions on Children

The Australian Human Rights Commission issued a report today analyzing the persistent practice of medically unnecessary non-consensual surgeries on children born with variations in their sex characteristics. The commission urged authorities to protect…
The Intersex flag
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Protest Demands End to Harmful Surgeries on Intersex Children

Hospital Should Halt Medically Unnecessary Surgeries

Protesters picketed Weill-Cornell, a private institution that is part of the New York Presbyterian Hospital system, earlier this month, demanding the hospital cease medically unnecessary surgeries on children born with intersex traits, and investigate…
Demonstrators gather for an #EndIntersexSurgery protest outside Weill-Cornell hospital in New York City in August 2021. 
News

US Hospital to Stop Harmful Intersex Surgeries on Children

Hospital is First Institution to Make This Change and Apologize for Harm Done

In a victory for intersex people, a hospital in Chicago pledged earlier this year to stop performing medically unnecessary surgeries on children born with intersex traits. The Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital also became the first…
Intersex activist Sean Saifa Wall protests outside Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago for Intersex Awareness Day on October 26, 2017.
News

Massachusetts Medical Society Supports Intersex Rights

Elective Surgeries Should Be Patient’s Choice

The Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) passed a resolution supporting the principle that intersex children should not be operated on until they are old enough to make the decision themselves. This deferral of all medically unnecessary…
A poster by intersex activist Pidgeon Pagonis
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Indian State Bans Unnecessary Surgery on Intersex Children

New Government Committee Should Include Intersex Perspectives

India’s Tamil Nadu state government has issued an executive order banning medically unnecessary surgeries on children born with intersex variations. “Intersex,” sometimes called “differences of sex development” in medical literature, refers to…
The Intersex flag
News

Push is on in Australia to End Intersex Abuses

Rights Commission Consultation Exposes Harmful, Unnecessary Medical Practices

Public pressure is growing in Australia to end the harmful and unnecessary medical practices imposed on intersex people – people born with variations in sex characteristics. Today, we mark Intersex Awareness Day amid signs that the global push to…
Main image for Intersex Prresser
News

Medical Experts Call to Defer Unnecessary Intersex Surgeries

New European Guidelines Reflect Intersex Patient Advocates’ Views

A group of European medical experts has published new treatment guidelines urging the deferral of medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex children until they are old enough to consent. The guidelines are based on medical data and ethical…
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News

The Intersex Guidelines Doctors Have Been Waiting For

On September 13, Lambda Legal and interACT Advocates for Intersex Youth published a detailed guide on how to make hospitals compassionate, affirming, and evidence-driven centers for intersex health care. It is very badly needed. I…
A group of Doctors meet in the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi October 4, 2013.
News

US Medical Association Stands Against Unnecessary Intersex Surgeries

Policy is Part of Growing Momentum to Respect Bodily Diversity

The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), one of the United States’ oldest and largest medical organizations, has issued a policy opposing medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex children. “Intersex” refers to the up to 1.7 percent…
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News

California: Resolution Affirms Intersex Rights

First State to Condemn Unnecessary Surgery on Intersex Children

  (Los Angeles) – California’s legislature passed a resolution on August 28, 2018 that supports the autonomy of intersex people and their right to decide about cosmetic surgical alteration. Senate Concurrent Resolution 110 (…
Senator Scott Wiener, who introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution 110, testifying before the California Senate Judiciary Committee on May 1, 2018.
News

Chicago Protest Demands Informed Consent for Intersex Patients

Medically Unnecessary High-Risk Surgeries Should Stop

  This afternoon in Chicago, the Intersex Justice Project (IJP), a US-based advocacy group, is staging a protest outside the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, asking the institution to stop allowing medically unnecessary surgeries…
Intersex activist Sean Saifa Wall protests outside Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago for Intersex Awareness Day on October 26, 2017.
News

Surgery Conference Cuts Intersex Patients Out

Intersex Advocates Demand Inclusion and Informed Consent

This weekend when urologists from around the world gather in San Francisco for the American Urological Association’s (AUA) annual conference, dozens of patient advocates will participate – yet a key group of people will be missing. The intersex…
Intersex Interact campaign
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Calling on California To Respect Intersex Children

Surgeons’ Opposition to Senate Resolution Exposes Persistent Stigmatization

I testified before California’s senate judiciary committee today to support Senate Concurrent Resolution 110, which supports the autonomy of intersex Californians to decide if and when their bodies get surgically altered. The resolution, authored…
A poster by intersex activist Pidgeon Pagonis
News

California’s 3rd Gender is Only the Beginning for Intersex Rights

State Should Lead by Regulating Medically Unnecessary Surgery on Infants

The Gender Recognition Act, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law on Oct. 15, puts California in the lead nationally in legal recognition for nonbinary genders. The bill opens the door for additional regulation that will protect the hundreds…
California State Capitol Building
News

Pediatrics Bodies Support Intersex Child Autonomy

Medical Associations Advise Delay on Non-Emergency Surgery

(New York, November 8, 2017) – A new position statement by the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology represents a significant step toward ending medically unnecessary surgery on intersex children who are too young to…
Turks Head Surgery Center, where urologist Dr. Ilene Wong spoke to Human Rights Watch about shortcomings in providing care to patients with differences in sex development (DSD) and their families.
News

US: Doctors Need Intersex Care Standards

Professional Groups Should Stand Against Unnecessary Surgery

(New York) – Medical professional associations should enact standards of care for intersex children that rule out medically unnecessary surgery before patients are old enough to consent, Human Rights Watch and interACT said in a report released…
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