MPs will be discussing age limits today by which young people should be free to opt for sex-change surgery, without having to resort to any kind of medical assessment.
Left wingers PAN and Bloco de Esquerda are pushing for 16 to be considered the age for what is termed “sexual self-determination”, suggesting it is a matter of ‘human rights’.
PCP communists are not so sure, and right wingers are dead against it, on the basis that if a 16 year old is not considered old enough to drive a car, why should he or she be free to make irreversible changes to their body.
Said Diário de Notícias, the general context of PAN and BE’s proposals may well be passed today, but whether the 16 year age limit ever gets to the statute books is a very different matter.
