Doctors In Denmark Want To Stop Infant Ritual Genital Mutilation For Under-18s… But Not Enough To Stop It

By Mike Buchanan: Tomorrow morning I’m going to be interviewed by a radio station in connection with this. The piece in today’s Independent starts off encouragingly:

Boys should not be circumcised until they are old enough to choose for themselves, doctors in Denmark have said.
The Danish Medical Association said it had considered suggesting a legal ban on the procedure for children under the age of 18, because it believed circumcision should be “an informed, personal choice” that young men make for themselves.
When parents have their sons circumcised, it robs boys of the ability to make decisions about their own bodies, and choose their cultural and religious beliefs for themselves, the organisation said.

… but then descends into this:
The doctors stopped short of calling for an all-out legal ban on the procedure, which is currently allowed but remains relatively rare in Denmark, because it said the move could have too many negative consequences.

“We have discussed it thoroughly, also in our ethics committee,” Ms  Møller said. “We came to the conclusion that it is difficult to predict the consequences of a ban – both for the involved boys, who could for example face bullying or unauthorised procedures with complications – and for the cultural and religious groups they belong to.”

The end of the article:

Past polls have shown that upwards of 87 per cent of Danes support banning the practice on boys under the age of 18, the Local reported.

Without a legal ban, nothing will change, and the wishes of 87 per cent of Danes will count for nothing. One consequence of a legal ban which is easy to predict, would be an end to the physical and psychological harm caused to male minors by the unneccessary procedure. I despair of the medical profession in the area of MGM, in the UK and elsewhere. Whatever came of the Hippocratic oath, ‘First, do no harm’?

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