§ Mr. Crouchasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will take steps to deal with the situation which arises concerning a person's sex when they have undergone a sex change, with the result that a birth certificate records one sex and documents subsequent to that person's change of sex record a different sex; and if he will consider introducing legislation to seek to allow amendments to be made to a birth certificate concerning a sex change.
§ Mr. DeakinsWhere the sex of an infant is indeterminate or is wrongly diagnosed at birth, and because of that an error occurs when the birth is registered, provision already exists for the register to be corrected to show the true sex. But the consensus of medical opinion is that actual change of definite physical sex cannot occur. This view is accepted by the courts. Where an adult undergoes medical or surgical treatment to help him or her to assume the role of a member of the opposite sex it may be possible for documents of current identity to be altered to agree with the chosen role. But a birth certificate is a record of the facts at the time of the birth, and to alter the birth register in such cases would be to falsify it, and could assist in the perpetration of a deception.