Federation Council approves bill banning sex changes in Russia
MOSCOW. July 19 (Interfax) - The Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, approved a bill on Wednesday that prohibits sex changes, except in cases related to treating birth defects in children.
The amendments will be introduced to federal law on the foundations of health protection in the Russian Federation.
Thus, it is prohibited to carry out medical interventions, including the use of medicine, aimed at changing sex, including the formation of primary or secondary sexual characteristics of another sex.
Medical interventions related to the treatment of congenital anomalies (malformations) or genetic and endocrine diseases associated with disorders in the formation of reproductive organs in children are not treated as sex reassignment, the bill said. These medical interventions are allowed according to a decision of the commission of a medical institution reporting to the Health Ministry, it said. The list of these medical organizations and the form and procedure for issuing such decisions and medical reports will be approved by the Russian government.
Based on the results of these medical procedures, the commission will issue an appropriate medical report on making changes to the civil status record.
If changes are made to the civil status record following the medical commission's report, the passport of a Russian citizen will be recognized as invalid 90 days later.
The bill stipulates that the alteration of a "civil status record on gender alteration by one of the spouses" shall serve as grounds for dissolving a marriage.
Persons who have had their gender altered would be prohibited from adopting children.
Individuals would be permitted to have their gender altered in their papers only upon the presentation to a civil registry office of an appropriate medical examination report issued by a doctoral board of a medical organization subordinate to the Health Ministry, given that this report indicates "correspondence of sexual characteristics to characteristics of a certain sex," the bill says.
The law takes effect on the day of its official publication.
The law will not apply to individuals who have undergone surgical interventions aimed at changing sexual characteristics before the day the law took effect and confirmed by a report of a medical commission.
About 400 State Duma members, including Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, authored the document.