Sydney,
Australia — Australia’s Family Court
<http://www.familycourt.gov.au/>
has allowed a 13-year-old girl to undergo hormone
treatment that will make her a boy – a controversial
decision that has ignited public debate.
The ruling, made public
yesterday, is the first time an Australian child has been
given legal approval to undergo sex-change hormone
treatment because of psychiatric issues
<http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/family_ct/2004/297.html>.
The girl, who under
Family Court rules can only be known as “Alex”,
will also receive psychiatric care and have surgery when
she turns 18 and is legally regarded as an
adult.
Alex regards herself as
being male after being brought up as a boy by her
now-dead father and being rejected by her mother. Her
home state was not revealed.
She has already begun
treatment with the hormones oestrogen and progestogen to
prevent menstruation and feminisation of her body. The
court made an interim order for that treatment to
commence earlier this year.
Yesterday’s decision
means Alex will begin treatment with the male hormone
testosterone once she turns 16 that will have
irreversible effects – including her voice
deepening, facial and body hair, as well as muscle
development.
Family Court Chief
Justice Alastair Nicholson referred to Alex as
“he” when making his judgment.
“I am
satisfied that Alex has the capacity and, indeed, does
in fact know the side effects that may arise and
further, that he wishes the proposed treatment with
knowledge of such risks,” the judge said.
“The social
implications of the proposed treatment are that Alex
will face challenges in his chosen identity in respect
of peer relationships, possible bullying and
ostracism, but I’m satisfied that impressive
steps have been taken to anticipate such
risks.”
Alex – whose
condition doctors call gender identity dysphoria –
beats boys at arm wrestling, and is attracted to girls,
the court heard.
She has no male
chromosomes and has hormone levels typical of a teenage
girl as well as female reproductive organs. But she lives
with an aunt who treats her like a boy.
The court’s
permission was necessary because sex change treatment is
regarded as a special medical procedure to which neither
a child, parent nor guardian can give consent.
The state welfare
department, which is Alex’s legal guardian, made the
court application on her behalf, and will pay for the
sex-change treatment until Alex becomes an
adult.
Prominent Australian
ethicist Nicholas Tonti-Filipini condemned the
decision.
“This medical
treatment, (is) completely unproven, even in
adults,” he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation
radio. “To do it to a 13-year-old who is still in
formation, whose body is still forming, whose sense of
identity is still forming, it’s just
irresponsible.”
He called for a higher
court to intervene.
But Louise Newman,
chairwoman of the Royal Australian and New Zealand
College of Psychiatrists <http://www.ranzcp.org/>,
Faculty of Children and Adolescent Psychiatry,
disagreed, saying that in this case it would be overly
stressful for the teenager to undergo female
puberty.
