Do hermaphodites (1 in 4500) have to keep the misshapen genitalia they were born with?
Do hermaphodites (1 in 4500) have to keep the misshapen genitalia they were born with?
I think there is a difference, but it comes down to motivation. Having a cleft palate, for instance, repaired would qualitatively improve a person's life. Repairs of virtually any birth defect or disfigurement would fit into this category. I don't think morality enters into it.
Hermaphrodites would probably be in that category.
Other types of plastic surgery are morally questionable (they ultimately serve vanity), but the law should only be involved in cases of unsafe procedures or unqualified practitioners.
For the purposes of legally defining and protecting marriage, people who have been altered to appear as a sex different than what they were born with will probably be able to marry so long as the man/woman model is met. Guess that might require dissolving marriages where one changes so as to make a same-sex couple.
I do worry about surgery obsessed folks, however. Would it have been wrong to prevent Michael Jackson's most recent mutilation? My word but that nose doesn't even look human anymore!