Call to Speak Out to Support Massachusetts Bill for Genital Integrity
I received the following e-mail from Georganne Chapin, the Executive Director of Intact America. Intact America is an organization that advocates for bodily integrity for all infants, particularly baby boys. They seek to protect baby boys from genital cutting, otherwise known as routine infant circumcision.
Georganne is seeking help to support the Genital Integrity Bill in Massachusetts. The Bill seeks to prevent genital mutilation of both female and male infants and children. Currently, United States federal law specifically protecs females from genital mutilation. The federal statute is drafted to exclude male genital cutting. She is asking for people to share their story so that they can present it as testimony in support of the gender neutral Genital Mutilation Bill.
She writes:
It could all start to change in Massachusetts. On March 2, the Massachusetts State Senate will consider the Male Genital Mutilation Bill, legislation that would outlaw genital mutilation of both young girls AND boys in Massachusetts.
The deadline is rapidly approaching and we urgently need your help to show Massachusetts legislators why passing this bill is the right thing to do.
Submit your own personal story about why you oppose infant circumcision before March 2 - and we'll make sure your testimony is heard by the Massachusetts state Senate Joint Committee.
Time and again, Intact America has seen just how powerful stories like yours can be.
More than statistics, policy papers or even medical information, first-hand accounts from people's real life experiences are what change the way even the most skeptical person thinks about circumcision.
Congress banned female genital mutilation in the U.S. in 1996. But no one has ever considered extending the same protection to baby boys - until now!
This is the first time a Male Genital Mutilation Bill has made it to debate in a state legislature. We cannot let this opportunity pass us by.
With your help, I know we can get Massachusetts to see circumcision for what it really is: unnecessary, risky, harmful, and ethically wrong.
Your story has the power to finally win baby boys the protection they deserve so please submit your personal testimony before March 2!
Once you've shared your own story, please help spread the word about this time-sensitive opportunity.
Thank you for helping us make the most of this unique opportunity, and we'll keep you posted as the legislative process unfolds!
Sincerely,
Georganne Chapin
Executive Director, Intact America
www.intactamerica.org
Well, I have shared my story. Have you?
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#1 Massachusetts Hearing March 2 on Gender Neutral Bill
The Judiciary Committee of the Massachusetts legislature held a hearing on March 2 on a bill that would make any genital cutting of any minor illegal and criminal. A federal bill already protects females; the Massachusetts bill would protect males and hence ban circumcision as well.
18 proponents testified in favor of the bill, including an attorney from Intact America who said that her organization had filed supporting testimony (written material, videos, etc.) from 500 people!
3 people testified against, including 2 Jewish mothers who argued that circumcision was mandated by God. Two Jewish mothers argued against circumcision, one aggrieved that her son had been circumcised in a hospital without her consent. The other kept her son intact, recommends a peaceful birth ceremony for Jewish boys, and said that various Jewish organizations oppose it.
Forceful arguments were made that circumcision was introduced to cure diseases that it does not cure, that it is painful, traumatic, unnecessary surgery that no medical association in the world recommends, that many circumcisions are botched, that even if the surgery had health benefits, we do not remove other body parts that might later become diseased, and that sex is certainly different, and worse, without the highly sensitive foreskin that has evolved over 50 to 100 million years. Most proponents stated that every boy has a right, like girls, to genital integrity.
An attorney argued that circumcision is already illegal criminal assault, child abuse, and a human rights law violation, regardless of parental beliefs. In banning female genital cutting, Congress expressly found that it violates federal and state statutory and constitutional law, including the 14th amendment right to privacy and bodily integrity, and does not violate parents' constitutional rights (to freedom of religion). He argued that boys have the same constitutional rights as girls, and that the federal law is unconstitutional unless changed to be gender neutral.