Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government has banned sex reassignment surgeries for intersex infants and children in a move which is being seen as progressive. The development comes after the Madras High Court’s direction to the Department of Health and Family Welfare in April to issue an order "enshrining the mandate of the Supreme Court".
The order, however, mentioned that the reassignment surgeries will be allowed in cases of life-threatening situations, which will be decided after the recommendations of a committee comprising a paediatric surgeon or a urologist, an endocrinologist, a social worker, and a government representative not below the rank of an under-secretary. The committee will be constituted by the Director of Medical Education.
In its justification for the ban on reassignment surgeries, the government said, “The term ‘intersex’ refers to people born with physical and biological sex characteristics that are more diverse than stereotypical definitions of male or female bodies.” Read more via News18
In A Landmark Decision TN Govt Bans Sex Assignment Surgery For Intersex Infants
This government order came on the heels of the Madras High Court judgement of April this year. The court made special mention of intersex worker/activist Gopi Shankar who had written to the NHRC regarding the issue. “It is a first major normative step towards a comprehensive legal protection regime for intersex children. Tamil Nadu is also the first state in the country to have fundamental recognition of infants by the judicial body,” Gopi Shankar told The Logical Indian.
Gopi Shankar-led Srishti Madurai movement, which works for the welfare of intersex persons, recommended a few steps ‘for strengthening and enforcement mechanism of the order’. The recommendations include, listing specific medical surgeries which have been banned, prescribe a ‘Standard Medical Protocol’ and accreditation process for specialized centres, prescribe guiding principles for the committee constituted by DME, rules for Conduct of Business for the committee constituted by DME, directive to give special attention to concerns of the intersex community, and include a penal clause for violation of the ban. Read more via The Logical Indian