Circumcision is a tricky subject, particularly after June 26, 2012 when a court in Cologne, Germany, announced that circumcising young boys on religious grounds amounted to bodily harm and as such was punishable by law. Last Thursday, in Switzerland, Zurich University Children’s Hospital decided to stop performing non-essential circumcisions while it considered the ethics of the matter more closely. In the meantime Germany’s constitutional court is making arrangements to legally protect the practice at a national level. The Prime Minister Angela Merkel is behind the move and has said that banning the practice would make Germany a laughing stock with the rest of the world.
Below are some points for and against the practice.
Arguments in favour of circumcision
• The practice goes back thousands of years and is prescribed in certain religions such as the Jewish and Muslim faiths. In Genesis 17:10-12, for instance, God is said to have commanded Abraham as follows:
“This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of a covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any foreigner, that is not of thy seed”.
A ban would therefore deny the followers of these religions the right to practice an essential element of their faith
• The World Health Organization (WHO) states that there is firm evidence to suggest that circumcision can reduce the risk of heterosexually acquired HIV infections in men by up to 60 percent
• The WHO also claims that circumcision can reduce genital herpes by about 30 percent, genital ulcer disease by 47 percent and Human Papillomavirus- that causes penile cancer, by 35 percent
• Banning circumcision would be socially divisive and could be seen as deliberately targeting minority groups
• Circumcision can be more hygienic and can therefore reduce the risk of developing urinary tract infections
• Circumcising small boys on religious grounds mutilates them before they can make an informed choice on the matter
• In Abraham’s days when hygiene may have been a lot poorer, circumcision served a function beneficial to health. Religious practices have changed with the times, so this one could too. The quotation from Genesis also endorses slavery, for instance
• The latest Zimbabwe Health Demographic Survey (ZHDS 2010/2011) indicates that the HIV prevalence rate among circumcised males between the ages of 15 and 49 in Zimbabwe is higher than that of the uncircumcised males, because of the misconception that the procedure protects one against HIV infection
• Circumcising young boys on preventative medical grounds violates the principle of consent to treatment
• Circumcision reduces the sensitivity around the head of the penis resulting in less pleasure during sex
• Circumcision can be dangerous and even deadly. Complications can include excessive bleeding and post-operative infections, such as herpes
My take on it? well, I am rather attached, so I may be a bit biased.
No comments:
Post a Comment