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Argument: Parents have a right to circumcise their children

Issue Report: Infant male circumcision

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Viens AM (2004). “Value judgment, harm, and religious liberty”. J Med Ethics 30: 241–7. 2003 – Summary: “Parents’ freedom to choose infant male circumcision is the correct policy. Individuals and groups lobbying to have infant male circumcision prohibited or restricted often argue that the practice of routinely circumcising infants is unjustified. For instance, in this issue of the journal, John Hutson argues that it is virtually impossible to justify a policy in which the medical establishment should be able to embark on a “mass circumcision” campaign of 100% of the infant male population (with the exception, of course, where it would be contraindicated by the presence of an anatomical or physiological abnormality) [see page 238].1

Indeed, I would be hard pressed to find anyone who could rationally disagree with this contention. However, this is because no one is currently arguing for the enactment of a policy that stipulates that all healthy male infants should be routinely circumcised (independent of parental choice). Arguments seeking to support a prohibition of “routine infant circumcision”, such as the .”