The Great Circumcision Debate...

lmkates

I saw this article this morning in the NY Times about circumcison and new recs from the American Academy of Pediatrics that just came out and thought I would share...

 https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/science/benefits-of-circumcision-outweigh-risks-pediatric-group-says.html

 I know my husband and I are still trying to decide if we will have our son circumcised when he is born this November. My husband is not circumcised, and I always felt if I had a son one day that he would be circumcised, but at this point we still have not made a mutual decision.

starfish717

There is also a segment on Good Morning America today with a woman from the American Academy of Pediatrics saying the same thing: "the benefits of circumcision greatly outweigh any risks". She also admits that most of the data comes from Uganda... interesting. This all makes me glad that this baby is not a boy.

shutupanddance07

They also talked about it on the Today Show. They said that the research numbers come from current numbers in the European population, where circumcision is at about 10%. In Uganda, they are researching the effect on circumcision on the AIDS epidemic. I'm just glad people are talking about it, because I'm still deciding...

starfish717

shutupanddance07:

They also talked about it on the Today Show. They said that the research numbers come from current numbers in the European population, where circumcision is at about 10%. In Uganda, they are researching the effect on circumcision on the AIDS epidemic. I'm just glad people are talking about it, because I'm still deciding...

It might have been the Today show that I saw the segment, I was flipping back and forth a bit. 

persephonerose

Once we found out we were having a boy I have been distraught over circumcision. I have dated men who are uncut and have experienced some of the drawbacks of that and it was pretty bad. But the thought of someone cutting the baby's penis makes me cringe. I had to stop reading all the articles because it was so overwhelming.

I finally told DH it was his choice. I am still not sure what he has decided. 

mick64

starfish717:

There is also a segment on Good Morning America today with a woman from the American Academy of Pediatrics saying the same thing: "the benefits of circumcision greatly outweigh any risks". She also admits that most of the data comes from Uganda... interesting. This all makes me glad that this baby is not a boy.

This just really bugs me, because I think it's an overstatement.  It's one thing to say the benefits outweigh the risks, or that there are some clear benefits, but there simply isn't enough evidence to say that it greatly outweighs. For one thing, there can't have been enough studies done since they last wrote their position to have such a huge change.  Another thing, they still aren't necessarily recommending routine circumcision. If the benefits were so obvious, they would have to recommend it routinely. 

To me, this is just a response to the push to make circumcision illegal and also to the fact that after they recommended against routine circumcision, some insurance companies stopped paying for it.  They are making this statement because enough parents still want to circumcise, so they want to make that ok and to get insurance companies to pay.  Which is fine, but now it seems like they are overstating things and going to persuade more people to start doing it again.

We really debated with DS, but ultimately decided against it, and I don't feel bad about it.  We'll choose the same if we ever have another boy.

Jena503

I think they are picking and choosing from research in Europe vs Uganda and I think it misrepresents things.  I am especially annoyed that they seem to be promoting circ as an HIV preventative. I'd rather my kid wear a condom.

fusionbride

Here's the news release from the AAP: https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/Pages/Newborn-Male-Circumcision.aspx?nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3a+No+local+token

and the actual recommendations:  https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2012/08/22/peds.2012-1989.full.pdf+html

The actual recommendations are much more neutrally stated than the press it is getting.  Still sounds very up to the parents to decide-- AAP isn't recommending one way or another.

CatnipTrinket

My husband is circumcised, but we're not going to do it with our son. I've done research into it, and I don't see that it's at all necessary. Since we live in a society in which sanitation is easy to come by, there's no worry about that. And, as I see it, if nature put it there, then it's supposed to be there. So, the decision is no.

If he wants to get it done later on when he's an adult or otherwise old enough to understand, then it'll be his decision. But I don't wanna take that decision away from him.