CHICAGO (AP) – There’s an ambiguous answer sometimes to the question everyone asks when a baby is born. Boy or girl? For at least 1 in 5,000 newborns each year, the answer is “intersex.”
That refers to conditions involving sex anatomy that doesn’t conform to standard definitions of male or female. Doctors call them disorders or differences of sex development. Some involve a blend of male-female sex chromosomes, too.
Surgery to make infants look more like boys or girls has been the norm. But it can damage sexual function and psyche later on. So some centers including Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago are taking a more nuanced approach. A team of specialists tells families about options. Intersex activists oppose surgery – at least until kids are old enough to decide for themselves.