Sunday, August 26, 2012

Critique American Academy of Pediatrics 2012 Circumcision Policy

As you are all aware the AAP has released its 2012 circumcision policy and it is very  pro-circumcision.

My response to the AAP is as follows:

  1. You have failed your patients which are American Children, and not Parents, not Doctors, not Hospitals, and not Religious groups. 
  2. You have failed to represent the interests of baby boys.
  3. You have failed to account for the human rights of baby boys.
  4. You have failed to account for medical ethics and how it applies to non-therapeutic amputative surgery of a non-consenting minor.
  5. You have failed to mention the male foreskin is a functional sex organ in its own right.
  6. You have failed to mention all of the scientific literature which contradicts the protective effects of circumcision for STI & HIV prevention.  A basic tenet of the scientific method is to use all available to data to disprove your theory, and not to selectively choose data which supports your theory.
  7. You have failed to mention the large body of evidence which documents the harms of circumcision from injury & infection to death in children, to sexual dysfunction in adults, and adult resentment of their infant circumcison.
  8. AAP your 2012 Circumcision Policy is a FAIL, and I hope it brings you both internal and international shame.
Is there a greater moral failing than to fail defenseless children?