Couple sues state over toddler's sexual-reassignment surgery

[mercuryblues]

http://www.wistv.com/story/22246487/couple-sues-state-over-toddlers-sexual-reassignment-surgery?utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=buffer9cc35

A Forest Acres couple is suing the state to challenge its decision to perform sexual-reassignment surgery on a toddler in its care who was born with both male and female internal sexual genitals. Mark and Pam Crawford, adoptive parents of the now 8-year-old child, spoke to the media Tuesday morning about the lawsuits filed in partnership with the Southern Poverty Law Center in federal and state courts.


The Crawfords say the child was born with intersex condition, which means a person is not born with a sexual anatomy that doesn't fit the definition of a typical man or woman.


The suit alleges the South Carolina Department of Social Services decided to perform "dangerous and mutilating surgery" in April, 2006 on the 16-month old to make the child a girl.

The child is now 8 and self identifies as a boy.

[LiberalAndProud]

1. Good for the SPLC. I hope they win.

This is truly unconscionable.

[Initech]

2. When is 8 years old considered a toddler?

I always thought that definition applied to 2 - 5 years old, not 8.

[Gormy Cuss]

14. It's clear in the link.

Child was surgically reassigned to female as a toddler and is now an 8 year old who identifies as male.

[Marrah_G]

4. The surgery was at 18 months

Social services decided the child was to be made into a girl at 18 months.

The child is now 8 and identifies as a boy.

[politicat]

5. The surgery was performed when the kid was a toddler.

Now, the child is old enough to articulate who he is.

[bike man]

6. 16 months old at the time of the surgery, according to the article

"The suit alleges the South Carolina Department of Social Services decided to perform "dangerous and mutilating surgery" in April, 2006 on the 16-month old to make the child a girl."

[mercuryblues]

7. At the link

The surgery was done when he was 16 months old. The child is now eight. He was adopted a few months after the surgery, which leads me to believe he was in DCYS custody at the time of the surgery.

[Initech]

8. They didn't make that clear in the article when I read it.

[mercuryblues]

9. I think the headline

could have been better.

[AngryAmish]

10. I just wish they would have waited

The teenage years would have been pretty bumpy but this poor kid is mutilated.

[Jenoch]

11. Wow.

The child was born with both male and female reproductive organs. The people in government just wanted to check this child off a list and be done with the situation. The obvious, common-sense solution was to wait to see which gender the child identified with and then do surgery.

[LeftofObama]

12. ^^This!^^ n/t

[gvstn]

13. I don't know the whole situation

But a family I know had the same situation and chose the surgery at a similar age. There were problems with urinating among others because neither set of reproductive organs were fully developed. They had to pick a gender to avoid further complications. Choosing female is easier.

I agree that waiting would be ideal but I'll wait to see why the doctors recommended doing it at the younger age. I know in hte case of the family I know this happened around 2007 so it may not be about attitudes to intersex children but genuine medical needs.

On Edit: I just read the article and apparently it wasn't medically necessary. My mistake. They should have waited since that is the new norm.

[Jenoch]

15. When I was writing that post

it occurred to me that there might be practical medical reasons for at least some surgery (ie. the urinary tract) but I forgot to include it. I agree with your edit.

[LuvNewcastle]

16. Absolutely.

If a baby is born and the sex is indeterminate, you should let the child decide who he or she is. Maybe the child identifies with both genders and doesn't want surgery at all, and that's just fine, too. I hope this case gets a lot of attention and this practice ends. It's a terrible tragedy when the wrong sex is chosen; I can't even imagine what this child is going through.