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16 Rich. J. L. & Pub. Int. 439 (2012-2013)
Is Circumcision Legal?

handle is hein.journals/richlapin16 and id is 481 raw text is: IS CIRCUMCISION LEGAL? Peter W Adler* INTRODUCTION An important, divisive,i and unanswered question of American law - and indeed of international law - is whether it is legal to circumcise healthy boys. American medical associationS2 and experts assert that circumcision is a common,3 safe,4 and relatively painlesss procedure with many medical benefits6 that exceed the risks.7 They argue that insurance should pay for it.8 Some religious organizations argue that circumcision is a sacred religious ritual.9 In any event, proponents claim that parents have a general B.A., Philosophy, Dartmouth College; M.A., Philosophy, Cambridge University; Juris Doctor, University of Virginia School of Law (member of Virginia Laut Review). Legal Advisor, Attorneys For the Rights of the Child, Berkeley, California. Disclosure: no ethical conflict. 1. Geoffrey P. Miller, Circumcision: Cultural-Legal Analysis, 9 VA. J. POL'Y & L. 497, 497 (2002). 2. American medical associations have published numerous circumcision policy statements since 1971. These associations include the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American Medical Association (AMA), American Academy of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and American Academy of Family Physicians. E.g., American Academy of Pediatrics, Male Circumcision, 130 PEDIATRICS, no. 3, 2012, at e756, http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/130/3/e756.full. The ACOG has endorsed the 2012 AAP Report. Id. at e757. 3. Id. at e757. 4. David Perlstein, Circumcision: The Surgical Procedure, MEDICINENET, http://www.medicinenet.com/circumcision thesurgicalprocedure/article.htm (last visited Nov. 16, 2012). 5. Male Circumcision, supra note 2, at e757 (Analgesia is safe and effective in reducing the procedural pain associated with newborn circumcision.); Male Circumcision, supra note 2, at e770-71 (describing subcutaneous ring block injections and dorsal penile nerve block injections as effective techniques in mitigating pain and its consequences during circumcision of newborns). 6. Id. at e756 (Specific benefits from male circumcision were identified for the prevention of urinary tract infections, acquisition of HIV, transmission of some sexually transmitted infections, and penile cancer.). 7. Id. at e772 (citing two large U.S. hospital-based studies estimating 'the risk of significant acute circumcisions in the United States to be between 0.19% and 0.22%'). 8. Id. at e757 (The preventive and public health benefits associated with newborn male circumcision warrant third-party reimbursement of the procedure.). 9. E g., In re Marriage of Boldt, 176 P.3d 388, 393 94 (Or. 2008) (accepting the arguments of the American Jewish Congress and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America that a father 439

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