Sex & Intersex

Modern medical science has saved countless unborn babies from "spontaneous abortion" (what the layman calls a miscarriage), and many doctors credit the use of hormones given to the mothers. But these substances, some natural and some synthetic, are often closely related to the male sex hormone, testosterone. An unexpected result now reported by two Johns Hopkins University authorities: a female fetus may have its development so changed that the baby can be mistaken for a boy, and raised as one.

Famed Pediatrician Lawson Wilkins and Gynecologist Howard W. Jones Jr. note twelve such cases in Pediatrics. Simultaneously, British physicians have noted the same phenomenon. It happens in some cases when heavy hormone treatment is given in the second and third months of pregnancy. Though the baby's true sex is determined at conception, its outward appearance can still be altered, through the 16th week, by hormones from the mother's bloodstream. In some of the abnormal cases, nothing need be done--the unusual appearance will fade gradually with growth. In the others, only minor surgery is needed.

This intersex abnormality is no reason for abandoning hormone treatment, the doctors agree. But two things are important: 1) if possible, the hormones should not be given early in pregnancy, or, if indicated, given only in moderate doses; and 2) the baby's real sex must be promptly established to avoid the danger that a girl will be raised as a boy, resulting in severe emotional damage when the facts are recognized.

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