Mitchell Hamline School of Law Mitchell Hamline Open Access Faculty Scholarship 2007 A Moratorium on Intersex Surgeries?: Law, Science, Identity, and Bioethics at the Crossroads Laura Hermer Mitchell Hamline School of Law,
[email protected] Publication Information 13 Cardozo Journal of Law & Gender 255 (2007) Repository Citation Hermer, Laura, "A Moratorium on Intersex Surgeries?: Law, Science, Identity, and Bioethics at the Crossroads" (2007). Faculty Scholarship. Paper 340. http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/facsch/340 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Mitchell Hamline Open Access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Mitchell Hamline Open Access. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. A Moratorium on Intersex Surgeries?: Law, Science, Identity, and Bioethics at the Crossroads Abstract Should the law prevent all parents and guardians from requesting and consenting to cosmetic genital surgeries on children with certain intersex conditions before the children are mature enough to decide the matter for themselves? While such surgeries ought not to be encouraged, banning the surgeries altogether, as some advocate, would hobble, if not eliminate, the burgeoning scientific investigation of the best treatment practices for different intersex conditions. It would also remove a surgical option that, according to data in a number of studies, has resulted in subjectively satisfactory outcomes for many patients. Keywords Intersex children--Legal status laws etc., Sex reassignment surgery, Informed consent (Medical law) Disciplines Law and Gender | Medical Jurisprudence This article is available at Mitchell Hamline Open Access: http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/facsch/340 A MORATORIUM ON INTERSEX SURGERIES?: LAW, SCIENCE, IDENTITY, AND BIOETHICS AT THE CROSSROADS LAURA D.