Spain approves gender reassignment without medical evaluation – 02/16/2023 – World

The Congress of Spain approved several guidelines related to the rights of women and LGBTQIA+ people this Thursday (16).

According to the new rules, people over 16 years old will be able to change their gender in documents and terminate an unwanted pregnancy without the need for family authorization. A menstrual leave was also approved for women who suffer from painful cycles.

The measures sparked heated debates at a time when the right and far right are uniting in the country against the socialist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who is calling for feminist changes.

Approved by a large majority of deputies —191 votes in favor, 60 against and 91 abstentions—, the text called the Trans Law allows the free change of gender and name in identity documents for people over 16 years old, in a process that can take up to four months.

Before, a medical report with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and a test of hormone treatment for two years was required. People aged between 14 and 16 will need authorization from their legal guardians, and those between 12 and 14 will need judicial authorization.

“We were not able to incorporate non-binary realities and trans migrant people, for example. But we took as big a step as we could”, said the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero.

Emblematic initiative of the leftist Podemos, a minority partner in the government, the text was approved in the first round at the Congress of Deputies, in December, and validated by the Senate a week ago.

The procedure caused tension in Parliament, in the government and even among feminists – part of the movement considers that self-determination erases women after decades of struggle for rights.

The debate over gender dysphoria — the mismatch between a person’s biological sex and the gender they identify with — has gained traction in several countries in recent years. Spain takes this step when pioneering nations in the subject retreated in the face of the complexities of the subject.

Sweden decided a year ago to stop hormone therapy for minors, citing precaution – something Finland had already done two years earlier. In France, the Academy of Medicine called for “great medical caution” in treating young patients. In the United Kingdom, in January, the government blocked a Scottish law similar to the Spanish one.

Despite the nickname Trans Law, the text also deals with other topics. The law prohibits conversion therapies —better known in Brazil as “gay cure”—, includes in the National Health System access to assisted reproduction techniques for lesbian, bisexual or unpartnered women and prohibits genital change surgeries that are not for health reasons in intersex people (with characteristics of both sexes) younger than 12 years.

On a busy day, Congress also voted a law so that workers who suffer from painful menstrual cycles can take leave – a pioneering measure in Europe. The text was approved with 185 votes in favor, 154 against and 3 abstentions. Japan, Indonesia and Zambia already have similar rules.

Women who have disabling menstruation or cramps associated with diseases such as endometriosis, for example, will be considered in a special situation of temporary disability.

“It is a question of giving adequate regulation to this pathological situation, in order to eliminate any type of negative prejudice in the workplace”, adds the text. The law does not specify how long this sick leave will last.

Menstrual leave arouses reservations in the socialist wing of the government and is criticized by UGT (General Union of Workers), one of the largest unions in the country. The group says it fears that employers will stop hiring women. In the same line goes the PP, the main opposition party. The acronym states that there is a risk of marginalization, stigmatization and negative consequences in the labor market for women.

Menstrual leave is one of the main measures of a project that also reforms the right to abortion in public hospitals, where less than 15% of pregnancy interruptions in the country take place.

Many women have to travel hundreds of kilometers to have an abortion due to the lack of service by public agencies. The law reorganizes the Spanish health system to expand the right.

The new rules will also allow minors to have an abortion without parental permission from the age of 16, nullifying an obligation established under the conservative government of Mariano Rajoy in 2015.