Yale Global Health Justice Partnership A PROGRAM OF AND THE YALE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

24 February 2019

RE: SB 388, AN ACT CONCERNING A PERSON'S STATUS OR CHARACTERISTICS

I write as a medical anthropologist and ethicist who has extensively studied the response of health professionals and health systems to the birth of children with inter-sex characteristics, including in my 2008 book, Fixing Sex: Intersex, Medical Authority, and Lived Experience published by Duke University Press.

I write you today to express my support for SB 388, introduced by Senator Lesser, which will affirm the bodily autonomy of children born with natural differences in genital anatomy, often called intersex. Unnecessary procedures like vaginoplasties, clitoral reductions, and gonadectomies in a child’s first few years of life—invasive surgeries that can safely be delayed until an individual can decide for themselves if they want to make such life-altering decisions—should not be occurring in Connecticut. These surgeries are based in fear of difference, homophobia, and transphobia, are a physical form of conversion therapy, and have deeply harmful outcomes for our communities.

People affected by this issue have been advocating for individual patient choice for over 30 years. Every major group led by intersex adults has opposed this practice, along with every single human rights organization that has considered it. Despite condemnation from the European Parliament, United Nations, the World Health Organization, Physicians for Human Rights, the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, and others, the practice of non-consensual surgery on these vulnerable children continues to this day.

SB 388 does not seek to limit medical procedures necessary for a person's health, but rather sends a message to our medical community that it is time to put policies in place that center intersex patients first. We must ensure that these children are cared for ethically, compassionately, and not denied their rights to make irreversible decisions about their own bodies. I urge you to take the opportunity to protect intersex children by supporting SB 388.

Katrina Karkazis, PhD, MPH Senior Visiting Fellow Global Health Justice Partnership

P.O. BOX 208215, NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT 06520- 8215 ● FACIMILIE 203 436- 9397

COURIER ADDRESS 127 WALL STREET, NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT 06511 ● [email protected]

WWW.LAW.YALE.EDU/GHJP