Current:Home > ScamsWhere gender-affirming care for youth is banned, intersex surgery may be allowed -Wealth Evolution Experts
Where gender-affirming care for youth is banned, intersex surgery may be allowed
Ethermac Exchange View
Date:2025-04-06 20:55:48
Multiple U.S. states have banned gender-affirming care for transgender people under the age of 18 this year alone. Indiana and Idaho are the latest to do so.
But in some states, "gender-normalizing surgeries" are allowed on intersex infants with "ambiguous sex characteristics." (That's the case in Georgia, Kentucky, and South Carolina.)
Those "ambiguous" characteristics apply to an estimated 1.7% of the world's population who are born intersex.
External characteristics of intersex may include underdeveloped genitals, which is a symptom of partial androgen insensitivity syndrome.
Sean Saifa Wall knows intimately the impact of this syndrome, and of the surgery he says he did not approve. Wall was 13 years old when doctors alerted his mother that his undescended testicles were cancerous. His mother opted to have them removed. But he did not have cancer.
"I received my medical record at 25. They were not cancerous," he told NPR's Leila Fadel in an interview.
Even in 2013, the United Nations called for an end to "genital-normalizing" surgeries like the one performed on Wall. Six years later, the organization continues to condemn operations on intersex youth, calling them "coercive" and "medically unnecessary."
Wall says of his operation: "Essentially, I referred to it as a castration... I wish that someone would have asked me what I wanted to do. I wish someone would have explained to me in the language that I can understand at the time of being a 13-year-old child. This is what's happening with your body."
The language he uses to condemn coercive "gender-normalizing" surgeries and the "talking points of the intersex movement," Wall says, have been used against young people who are transgender.
"This is so bizarre, right?" Wall said. "You have these trans young people who are very confident in who they are ... and they're being actively denied affirming health care. Whereas intersex children do not get to consent about the surgeries that they have."
The Societies for Pediatric Urology's most updated stance on the topic does not advocate for a ban on all surgery on intersex children: "A moratorium on all surgery would be as harmful as recommending surgery for all," it says.
Sean Saifa Wall spoke to NPR's Leila Fadel about how laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth have impacted young people with intersex characteristics.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
On the language in bills banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth
A lot of the language that's in the bills that de-transitioners are using: saying that they were mutilated, saying that these were medically unnecessary. I'm just like – medically unnecessary surgeries are actually happening to intersex young people. ... That's very compelling language that conservatives are actually using to describe ... these gender affirming procedures that trans young people are getting. And that's just not true.
On the difference between transgender and intersex individuals
I think the biggest difference is consent. They're trans young people who are like, "these experiences during puberty are making me feel uncomfortable, and I want to be able to stop that." Intersex young people don't get to make those decisions about their bodies. It's more so, we're told that these procedures need to be done for our wellness. But what is underlying that, is that we're actually abnormal, that we actually need to be fixed to be normal. And those are just lies, and it's paranoia.
On regulating care for transgender and intersex children
Every case is very unique, and I think what's happening now is that there is a broad stroke applied to all people with intersex variations. I do feel like there should be ... a case by case basis as opposed to just doctors being the arbiters of a person's gender identity — a person's body. I think doctors should ... be accountable for why these procedures are being done.
What's often happening is that parents are seeing surgeons before they're actually getting psychological support, affirming health care for intersex children as actually being compassionate, and actually treating each case differently. And that is not what's happening.
Taylor Haney produced the audio version of this story. Miranda Kennedy edited the digital version.
veryGood! (2)
Related
- Google unveils a quantum chip. Could it help unlock the universe's deepest secrets?
- Hormel concedes double-dippers had it right, invents chips so all can enjoy snacking bliss
- In Ohio campaign rally, Trump says there will be a bloodbath if he loses November election
- One Way Back: Christine Blasey Ford on speaking out, death threats, and life after the Kavanaugh hearings
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- This man turned a Boeing 727-200 into his house: See inside Oregon's Airplane Home
- Nickelodeon actors allege abuse in 'Quiet on Set' doc: These former child stars have spoken up
- NC State completes miracle run, punches March Madness ticket with first ACC title since 1987
- Spooky or not? Some Choa Chu Kang residents say community garden resembles cemetery
- A warming island’s mice are breeding out of control and eating seabirds. An extermination is planned
Ranking
- Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
- Suspect in fatal shooting of New Mexico State police officer captured
- A year of the Eras Tour: A look back at Taylor Swift's record-breaking show
- Secret Service, Justice Dept locate person of interest in swatting attacks on DHS Secretary Mayorkas and other officials
- Realtor group picks top 10 housing hot spots for 2025: Did your city make the list?
- As more states target disavowed ‘excited delirium’ diagnosis, police groups push back
- Robbie Avila's star power could push Indiana State off the NCAA men's tournament bubble
- NCAA Tournament South Region predictions for group full of favorites and former champions
Recommendation
Pressure on a veteran and senator shows what’s next for those who oppose Trump
Blind 750-pound alligator seized from New York home, setting up showdown as owner vows to fight them to get him back
8-year-old Kentucky boy dies after eating strawberries at school fundraiser: Reports
The inside story of a rotten Hewlett Packard deal to be told in trial of fallen British tech star
New data highlights 'achievement gap' for students in the US
Kevin Harlan loses his mind as confetti falls prematurely during Atlantic-10 title game
What to know about Zach Edey, Purdue's star big man
Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Bring the Heat