Lawmakers in the Catholic-majority European country Spain approved legislation permitting children as young as 12 to undergo gender transition treatment.
Requirements for a medical or psychological report supporting consistent self-perception divergent from a child’s biological sex was eliminated. Children as young as 12 may now seek gender transition, according to a report from the Catholic News Agency.
The newly enacted Law for the Real and Effective Equality of Trans Persons and for the Guarantee of LGTBI Rights (The Trans Law) allows transgender genital surgery and hormonal treatments from the age of 16 without parental consent.
The trans law permits individuals at least 16-years-old to change their name and sex in the civil registry upon their request. Children between 14 and 16 need to get consent of the parents or legal guardians.
A child between 12 and 14 may change their name and sex with a judge’s approval without parental involvement, according to the report.
Before the trans law was approved by legislative houses earlier this month, children seeking a sex change had to have been taking hormones for a significant period of time to block normal sexual development, the report noted.
Children who change their name and sex in the civil registry may expect to wait up to four months for the change to be reversed. Successful applicants are required to wait at least six months to reverse their requested change.
Surgical simulation of genitals will generally not be permitted for children younger than 12. The report added that the trans law created an exception when “medical indications require otherwise in order to protect the person’s health.”
Children between 12 and 16 seeking a sex change must demonstrate “a sufficient degree of maturity,” according to the report. Individuals older than that do not require parental consent.
“That’s pretty young,” clinical psychologist Dr. Erica Anderson told Fox News.
Anderson, whom the Fox report said identifies as a transgender woman, has 40 years of clinical experience. Anderson served as a board member for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) from 2019 to 2021, the report noted.
“I’m concerned that many young people are sort of caught up in the excitement about sexual and gender minority labels and might be adopting ideas about themselves that may not last,” said the psychologist.
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