New York City Will Regulate Religious Circumcisions
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This Thursday, the New York City Board of Health passed a regulation requiring written consent from parents before an infant can undergo an ultra-Orthodox Jewish ritual circumcision, in which the circumciser uses his mouth to remove blood from the incision.
The nine doctors and public health professionals who voted on the issue said it came down to a matter of safety. The panel expanded, citing that the oral contact, known in Hebrew as metzitzah b’peh, creates a risk of transmission of herpes that can be deadly to infants due to their underdeveloped immune systems.
The issue has become quite serious in the past decade. Between 2004 and 2011, 11 herpes infections caused by the practice were reported. Two of the babies died and two others suffered severe brain damage.
In the Jewish community, the metzitzah b’peh is less common than using gauze to clean the area post-circumcision. Still, Orthodox Jewish rabbis believe the practice is both safe and faithful to Talmudic codes.
According to the The New York Times, the city will require ritual circumcisers to inform parents in writing if they will use direct oral contact during the circumcision, and must receive written consent from the parents. The consent form will state the health risk associated with the procedure. Failure to comply may result in warning letters or fines to the mohelim. Enforcement, though, will be based on investigation of specific complaints and herpes cases, not spot checks or raids.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews, however, are not happy with this decision. Those who follow ultra-Orthodox practices believe if a boy doesn’t undergo metzitzah b’peh, he is not truly Jewish. When speaking with the Times, Rabbi William Handler said the decision was being made without evidence and that “the city is lying, and slandering compassionate rabbis.”
Do you think the city had a right to intervene in this matter?
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Circumcising an infant or child is the most disgusting violation of human rights I have ever encountered. It is wrong to carve off a normal healthy body part from an non-consenting human – for ANY REASON. Amputating the foreskin and other parts that are thrown away with it is a complete disruption in the male reproductive system and brain that supports it. Stop doing this insane mutilation of helpless children!
Congratulations to NYC for giving parents the legal right to sign their child up to be sexually assaulted and infected with a potentially fatal STD.
Putting one’s mouth on a baby’s penis=never cool ever. EVAR. I don’t care what your religion is. Don’t care if you think I’m bigoted. Also, circumcision is genital mutilation. Again, don’t care what your religion is or if you think it’s bigoted. You are sexually torturing a tiny baby.
While I think it is good to make sure parents are informed about this risk, I still find it disturbing that a parent can consent to a grown male having oral contact with their child’s penis. I would also like to mention that I do not believe circumcision should be a choice for parents either. In religious context: Religious freedom does not allow for anyone to impede another’s rights, nor does it allow one person to harm another. In any other context, this is an unnecessary surgery, and parents should only be able to make surgical decisions for children when a health issue prompts such a decision. Making such a decision for an infant deprives the adult that boy will become of the bodily autonomy everyone deserves.