Pressure mounts to curtail surgery on intersex children

NEW YORK (AP) — Children whose sexual characteristics don’t neatly align with the norm have for decades faced surgery to rearrange their anatomy to resemble that of more typical boys and girls — long before they were old enough to have a say in the decision.

But now the practice is under assault, as never before. The American Medical Association is considering a proposal discouraging it. Three former U.S. surgeons general say it’s unjustified. And on Tuesday, Human Rights Watch and InterACT — a group advocating for intersex youth — are releasing a detailed report assailing the practice and urging Congress to ban it.

The report says “the results are often catastrophic” and asserts that the surgeries “can inflict irreversible physical and psychological harm.”