On Eugenic Abortion of the Intersex

A century ago, eugenics, the science of breeding "better" humans, was considered the "queen of the sciences." Then came the Holocaust, in which millions of Jews, LGBT+ people, people with disabilities, "Gypsies" and others were murdered by the Germans in the name of purifying the Aryan race.

The first to be sent to the gas chambers were those deemed "lives not worth living": people with disabilities and "deformities."

Germany lost WW II, and afterwards, eugenics was abandoned in the polite sciences, and replaced with genetics. No longer was it considered ethical to speak of breeding better humans by eliminating "undesirables;" instead, genetics was to improve life by addressing itself to pure science or to curing medical suffering.

But eugenics never really went away, and it's operating today through various reproductive technologies such as selective implantation of embryos, and, quite commonly, through prenatal screening for "disorders," which are then "treated" via "therapeutic abortion." Among those characteristics that can been screened for and eliminated are those forms of intersexuality with a genetic origin.

Our medical ethicists today state that selective abortion of female embryos is unacceptable, because there is no medical condition, simply a social preference. Yet termination of pregnancies involving intersex fetuses is deemed ethical, because we are deemed disordered. In essence, this "ethical" position is that it's ok for doctors to select fetuses with disabilities for termination, as it's rational for us to be considered "lives not worth living."

OII Australia has submitted the following comment on guidelines for the use of assisted reproductive technologies in Australia, which you can find here. It argues that intersexuality is not a "disorder," but rather a natural variation. It further argues that medically selecting against intersex pregnancies is akin to selecting against female pregnancies, being based on social biases, and should be considered unethical.

I'm all for that, but I'd go further. I'm pro choice, and believe a pregnant individual should have the ability to terminate an early pregnancy at will, based on her assessment of her readiness and ability to carry a pregnancy to term. But I have grave moral reservations about eugenic abortion--a termination of a pregnancy based on the characteristics of the fetus as determined by doctors. Elective abortion at will relates to people's reproductive autonomy, but eugenic abortion focuses on what types of people are considered valuable or disposible. And, as someone who is Jewish, LGBT+, and intersex, I see a clear continuity between my being a candidate for the gas chamber were I living in Nazi Germany, and my being a candidate for selective abortion were I conceived today. I cannot countenance eugenics.

Testosterone and the Sex Policing of Athletes' Bodies

New policies for Olympic and other international athletes set an upper limit to the amount of testosterone considered "normal" for a woman, and require those women who have natural levels of T that are higher than this to have medical interventions to lower their levels. If the women are found to be intersex, these interventions include surgical removal of their gonads, and (though this has NO relation to testosterone production) surgical reduction of their clitorises if these are deemed "enlarged."

This is just crazy. Some facts: first, levels of testosterone vary a lot. Tests of elite athletes show that about 17% of male athletes have testosterone in the "female range" and 14% of female athletes have testosterone in the "male range." Secondly, there is no direct correlation between levels of T and athletic performance; that's simplistic and nearly magical thinking. And third, it makes no sense to define the range of "normal" T levels for women very narrowly (15 - 70 ng/dL) and for men very broadly (300 -1,000 ng/dL), in essence saying that there's no such thing as a natural level of testosterone too high in a man, but there is such a thing for a woman.

Bodies vary a great deal. Why do we focus obsessively on policing the sexed body of athletes, rather than on other "abnormalities?" Basketball players are abnormally tall, which actually does enhance their performance. Many gymnasts are double-jointed and abnormally flexible. In fact, most any sport rewards people with atypical bodies, and we *celebrate* that. But when it comes to sex variance, a variation that is associated with high performance more in fantasy than in fact is suddenly subject to extreme bodily policing, and that's just wrong.