questions about circumcision

The Case Against Circumcision

May 7, 2011

To many parents of a newborn boy circumcision seems like the thing to do (aside from religiously motivated parents). Why? Oh, because . . . it’s more hygienic (not true), it’s more common among little boys (not necessarily true), everyone else did it in the family (is this ever a valid reason?). Up until the week prior to J’s birth, we were set on circumcising him. Not for religious reasons, but for most of the other reasons parents come up with. It’s easier to clean, we don’t want him made fun of in the locker room, etc. Our doula suggested that we do a little reading and thinking about the reasons against circumcision. We begrudgingly did so. To our surprise, we discovered a whole lot of facts out there that changed our mind. 1) Religious reasons. We are not Jewish or Muslim. The Catholic Church has no definitive stance against circumcision, and conversely it does not require it. So religious reasons were a non-factor for us. 2) Health benefits. The American Pediatric Association no longer recommends routine circs. Instead it states that there aren’t any significant benefits that make it worth doing. Health is not a factor in circumcising! Infections that may occur in that area of the body would be tended to like infections elsewhere. In the rare event someone needed to be circumcised later in life for health reasons, it is readily available at your local urology clinic. Yes, there was a recent study about reducing HIV infection…

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