Sweden’s leftist government has proposed lowering the age limit for people legally changing gender from 18 to 16 as part of a new gender recognition law.
Minister of Social Affairs Lena Hallengren announced the proposal this week, saying the Swedish Social Democratic Party government wishes to allow 16-year-olds to be able to legally change their gender.
“There is a big difference in changing legal gender, where we make the assessment of being able to lower that age limit from 18 to 16 years. When, on the other hand, we talk about the medical sex, which is preceded by doing gender-correcting treatments and medical procedures, the age limits remain,” Hallengren suggested.
The new law will also make changes to the provision of sex reassignment surgeries, allowing the healthcare system to decide if the person should be allowed the surgery without needing a permit from the National Board of Health and Welfare, broadcaster SVT reports.
“This is an issue where it is the healthcare system that makes the assessment of which care or possibly treatment is the very best. Not politics,” Hallengren claimed.
While Sweden was one of the first European countries to see hospitals approve of hormone therapy for children, the Karolinska hospital announced a U-turn on the issue last year after reports of side effects on children that had undergone treatment.
The hospital changed its guidelines to note that possible side effects of hormone therapy could include cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, infertility, cancer, and thrombosis.
Sweden is not the only European country to propose new legislation on legally changing gender: Spain’s leftist government has also pushed for a new transgender law that would allow anyone over the age of 16 to change their gender with the Spanish Civil Registry without needing medical treatments.
Under the Spanish proposal, a 16-year-0ld would simply need to request their gender be changed and then return in three months to confirm their decision. The individual would then have six months to decide if they wanted to reverse their decision.