Genetic diagnosis of intersex
| Intersex topics |
|---|
 |
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD or PIGD) refers to
Surgical interventions on children with intersex conditions are contentious and may lead to selection for other traits like same sex attraction.[6] Robert Sparrow states that intersex conditions are comparable to sexual orientation in that harms may be associated with a "hostile social environment". He concluded that the acceptability of elimination of intersex conditions has "uncomfortable" implications for "other nonpathological human variations" that do not affect physical health.[6]
In response to Sparrow, Georgiann Davis argues that such discrimination fails to recognize that many people with intersex traits led full and happy lives, and that the "intersex community is only "invisible" to those who choose to ignore it", while "the medical profession, not the intersex trait itself, is a major source of the social and psychological harm that perpetuates intersex stigmatization and the "hostile social environment" that individuals with intersex traits encounter".[11] Jeff Nisker links the elimination of intersex conditions to their pathologization, describing how "[o]nce a difference becomes a medical disorder to which the medical profession is dedicating time and resources to prevent, procedures to this end become endowed with appropriateness".[12]
Jason Behrmann and Vardit Ravitsky state: "Parental choice against intersex may ... conceal biases against same-sex attractedness and gender nonconformity."
In 2015, the Council of Europe published an Issue Paper on Human rights and intersex people, remarking on a right to life:
Intersex people's right to life can be violated in discriminatory "sex selection" and "preimplantation genetic diagnosis, other forms of testing, and selection for particular characteristics". Such de-selection or selective abortions are incompatible with ethics and human rights standards due to the discrimination perpetrated against intersex people on the basis of their sex characteristics.[16]
Prenatal hormone treatment
Currently, prenatal testing and hormone treatment to prevent the physical and behavioral expression of intersex traits is available.[17][18][19] In 1990, a paper by Heino Meyer-Bahlburg titled Will Prenatal Hormone Treatment Prevent Homosexuality? was published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology. It examined the use of "prenatal hormone screening or treatment for the prevention of homosexuality" using research conducted on foetuses with congenital adrenal hyperplasia and other traits.[20]
Alice Dreger, Ellen Feder, and Anne Tamar-Mattis describe how research published by Saroj Nimkarn and Maria New in 2010 constructs "low interest in babies and men – and even interest in what they consider to be men's occupations and games – as "abnormal", and potentially preventable with prenatal dexamethasone".[17] The authors state that "weak and unsupported conclusions" of investigations into the attempted "prevention of benign behavioral sex variations" indicates gaps in the ethical management of clinical research.[21]
In 2012, Hirvikoski and others described a lack of long-term follow-up studies of individuals exposed to prenatal treatment, and the results of a 10-year Swedish study of 43 mothers and children. The authors found evidence of unacceptable side-effects in their study, including neurological consequences. Treatment with dexamethasone was discontinued in Sweden.[18]
See also
Notes
- Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
- Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
- ISBN 978-0-8018-1405-1.
- ISBN 978-0-674-00189-3.
- ^ a b Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority, PGD conditions licensed by the HFEA, archived from the original on 2018-02-18, retrieved 2018-02-17
- ^ S2CID 41857961.
- S2CID 25392141.
- ^ "Gender and Genetics". World Health Organization Genomic resource centre. Archived from the original on June 10, 2006. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
- Organisation Intersex International Australia (April 30, 2014). Submission on the Review of Part B of the Ethical Guidelines for the Use of Assisted Reproductive Technology in Clinical Practice and Research, 2007. Organisation Intersex International Australia (Report). Sydney.
- Organisation Intersex International Australia (July 10, 2016). "LGBTI sponsorship and the elimination of intersex traits". Retrieved 2017-07-02.
- S2CID 7331095.
- S2CID 6085229.
- S2CID 27065247.
- ^ a b Carpenter, Morgan (July 18, 2014). "Morgan Carpenter at LGBTI Human Rights in the Commonwealth conference". Glasgow.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - S2CID 2198650.
- ^ Council of Europe; Commissioner for Human Rights (April 2015), Human rights and intersex people, Issue Paper
- ^ S2CID 38359933.
- ^ PMID 22466333.
- PMID 10372672.
- ISSN 1044-5463.
- PMID 22904609.
Bibliography
- Behrmann, Jason; Ravitsky, Vardit (October 2013). "Queer Liberation, Not Elimination: Why Selecting Against Intersex is Not "Straight" Forward". The American Journal of Bioethics. 13 (10): 39–41. S2CID 27065247.
- Council of Europe; Commissioner for Human Rights (April 2015), Human rights and intersex people, Issue Paper
- S2CID 7331095.
- Nisker, Jeff (October 2013). "Informed Choice and PGD to Prevent "Intersex Conditions"". The American Journal of Bioethics. 13 (10): 47–49. S2CID 6085229.
- Organisation Intersex International Australia; Carpenter, Morgan (April 2014). "Submission on the Review of Part B of the Ethical Guidelines for the Use of Assisted Reproductive Technology in Clinical Practice and Research, 2007". Sydney.
- Sparrow, Robert (October 2013). "Gender Eugenics? The Ethics of PGD for Intersex Conditions". The American Journal of Bioethics. 13 (10): 29–38. S2CID 41857961.