Duke Law event: Ending medically unnecessary surgery on intersex children
Duke Law is holding an Intersex Awareness Day event on Human Rights in Practice: “Ending Medically Unnecessary Surgery on Intersex Children”, with Kyle Knight of Human Rights Watch and Alesdair Ittelson of interACT.
Kyle Knight, researcher in the LGBT rights program at Human Rights Watch, and Alesdair Ittelson, interACT’s Deputy Legal Director, will give a lecture on “Ending Medically Unnecessary Surgery on Intersex Children.” Based on a discredited medical theory popularized in the 1960s, doctors today perform irreversible and medically unnecessary surgery on intersex children – often in infancy – with the stated aim of making it easier for them to grow up “normal.” The results are often catastrophic, the supposed benefits are largely unproven, and there are rarely urgent health considerations requiring immediate, irreversible intervention. The operations amount to violations of rights to bodily autonomy, freedom from torture, and health–and are coming under increasing scrutiny around the world. But can human rights arguments alone change a medical paradigm?
This talk will be moderated by Carolyn McAllaster, Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the HIV/AIDS Policy Clinic at Duke Law. This lecture is part of the Human Rights in Practice Series, which is organized by the International Human Rights Clinic and Center for International and Comparative Law. Co-sponsors include Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, Duke Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute, Duke Human Rights Center at the Kenan Institute for Ethics, FuquaPride, Human Rights Law Society, International Law Society and Outlaw. Lunch will be provided.
Date and time: Thursday, 26 October at 12:30 PM
Location: Room 4045, Duke Law School, 210 Science Drive, Durham, NC 27708
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