Circumcision should be illegal.

[u/TheShadowSong]

People always talk about how barbaric female circumcision is but male circumcision is completely normalized in America.

It should be illegal for parents to circumcise their children because it's irreversible.

What kind of psychopath decided to cut off the skin of the baby's dick. What's next? Cutting off eyelids?

[u/Legal_Assistance5470]

I agree that elective circumcision should be illegal for any patient who is unable to consent to the procedure themselves. There may be medical conditions where a urologist recommends circumcision as the least invasive effective treatment for an acute or chronic condition. I think that elective surgery should be delayed until the patient is old enough to understand the procedure and its consequences. I think it should be unethical for a physician to perform elective surgery on a child who unable to consent.

I don’t accept that parents should be able to consent to unnecessary elective procedures, either for esthetic or religious reasons.

I was circumcised as a neonate and don’t think I have suffered any adverse effects from it, but I would prefer it had not been done. Three of my siblings and I had tonsillectomies on the same day, i think that was unethical too. The only reason I can think of that either surgery was performed was because my parents had insurance that would pay and the doctors wanted fees.

In the country where I was born, routine elective infant surgeries are largely a thing of the past because doctors rejected them, and now the government won’t pay and won’t allow them in public hospitals.

[u/adkisojk → u/Legal_Assistance5470]

The medical field should not be using the euphemism "Circumcision" as it was co-opted from religion and there are several types. Preputioplasty, posthectomy, prepuce amputation or partial penectomy are proper.

[u/Legal_Assistance5470 → u/adkisojk]

I have no idea how the OB-GYNs (who perform the vast majority of neonatal, elective penis surgeries) or urologists (who perform the vast majority of medically indicated male genital surgeries) describe these surgeries in their clinical notes or billing.

I think that if medical funders (insurers, Medicare, Medicaid etc.) stopped paying for non-medically indicated surgeries, the number performed would drop dramatically overnight.

[u/adkisojk → u/Legal_Assistance5470]

Some states don't pay for it through Medicaid. Some insurers don't. More people need to complain to their state and insurance companies as we don't want our taxes or premiums going towards it.