Student Reflections on the Manchester Bioethics and Health Law Conference 2023

In this post, two of the students on our Healthcare Ethics & Law masters course reflect on the Manchester Bioethics and Health Law conference which CSEP held at the University of Manchester in January 2023. Aydin Rezazadeh It was a dream come true to recently attend the Manchester Bioethics and Health Law Conference, my first academic event of the kind! During the conference, I was most fascinated by the panel discussion on 'Assigning Sex and Affirming Gender', which examined the role of parents and other parties in gender decision-making. The first paper, presented by Ed Horowitz, explored the ethical concerns of the rights of parents in gender decision-making for children and discussed the Tavistock case - which ruled that consent for the use of puberty blockers should be obtained from both children and parents. The presentation highlighted the importance of considering the experiences of parenting gender diverse children, and the stigma associated with it, when examining parental decision-making. The second paper (presented by Fae Garland) focussed on medical interventions and decision-making of parents in the case of intersex minors. This discussed Malta's 'Gender Identity, Gender Expressions and Sex Characteristics Act 2015' - an act which dictates that there should be no medically-unnecessary sex assignment surgery for intersex children until they reach the age of informed consent. The presentation debated the benefits and potential challenges of granting children the right to be their own decision-makers, against the context of cultural expectations on parents, and the potential social impacts of late disclosures of intersex conditions.