When Parents Choose Gender: Intersex, Children, and the Law

In England and Wales, it is usually lawful for those with parental responsibility to consent to treatment on children who have not acquired legal capacity, providing that they are acting in the child's best interests. Whilst in most instances this process is unproblematic and the decisions made are non-controversial, there are troubling examples where this is more problematic. The difficulties for a family with a child who has an intersex condition will be considered to illustrate that there may be cases of medical and surgical treatment where even though both parents and doctors agree on a course of action in good faith, the treatment administered may not necessarily be in the best interests of the child. Sometimes, procedures carried out on an infant apparently in their best interests may later be a cause of regret to the child as an adult. The law in England and Wales will be examined to investigate other examples of controversial treatments of young children involving legal interventions to consider whether there are any parallels and what the implications of these might be to the intersex child. A model suggested by a Columbian legal case from 1995 is discussed. The courts ruled that infantile sex assignment surgery is lawful only following very stringent consent procedures. The possibility is considered that guidelines defining the consent procedure may afford some protection for the intersex child.