Passage Of Bills Protecting Intersex Children And Others All But Certain

Every party in Parliament except one voted in favour of three bills, submitted by the Prime Minister’s office, which will help protect intersex children and increase rights for trans children if passed into law, RÚV reports.

As reported, the bills in question were meant to be parts of the 2019 gender determination act but were removed in committee at that time.

The first bill specifically concerns intersex children. If passed, this bill would grant children born with atypical sex characteristics freedom from non-consensual and medically unnecessary surgery on their genitalia. Instead, these children would be granted the choice to determine for themselves whether or not they want such surgery, with full access to Iceland’s health care system. The second bill makes a number of edits to the gender determination act so as to use more gender inclusive language. The third bill lowers the age at which an Icelander can change their legally registered gender from 18 to 15.

Every party in Parliament voiced support for, and voted in favour of, the passage of these three bills yesterday, with the exception of the Centre Party. Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, chairman of the party, has been a vocal critic of these bills, but his criticisms have been repeatedly pointed out to be at odds with modern medical science.

However, as the Centre Party is an opposition party, and the bills in question come from the Prime Minister’s office with the support of the majority of MPs in Parliament, their passage is more or less a matter of time.

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