Human Rights Group Says All Circumcisers Should be Arrested
A San Diego based human rights group, MGMbill.org, called for all circumcisers to be arrested after a Ridgefield, Washington, man was charged with assault for attempting to circumcise his eight-year-old son with a kitchen knife. The boy’s 33-year-old father, Edwin Baxter, said he was inspired to cut off part of his son’s penis after reading the Bible.
SAN DIEGO, CA (PRWEB) September 10, 2004 -- A San Diego based human rights
group, MGMbill.org, called for all circumcisers to be arrested after a
Ridgefield, Washington, man was charged with assault for attempting to
circumcise his eight-year-old son with a kitchen knife. The boy’s 33-year-old
father, Edwin Baxter, said he was inspired to cut off part of his son’s penis
after reading the Bible.
“I commend the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office
for bringing assault charges against the perpetrator of this crime,” said
Matthew Hess, President of MGMbill.org. “But what about the more than one
million other boys in this country who are circumcised each year without their
consent in hospitals and religious ceremonies? The rights of those boys are
violated just as grievously as the rights of this frightened eight-year-old boy
in Ridgefield.”
Hess continued by saying that the U.S. uses a double
standard when it comes to circumcision. “We have a blatantly discriminatory
circumcision policy in this country,” said Hess. “Doctors and mohels who
circumcise girls are thrown into prison, but if those same doctors and mohels
circumcise boys, they are rewarded with a paycheck – even though circumcision
impairs sexual function in both genders.”
With both the American Academy
of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association advising against
circumcision, more people are questioning why the sexually damaging procedure is
still being widely performed on baby boys who cannot give their consent. A bill
proposal circulating in Congress called the “MGM Bill” (Male Genital Mutilation
Bill) would amend current law to add protection for boys, but it has yet to find
a legislative sponsor.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/9/prweb157021.htm