CIRCUMCISION CAN BE A CRIMINAL OFFENCE. GERMANY.

German court rules child’s religious circumcision

can be a criminal offence – Analysis.

 

 

As has been widely reported, a regional German court has ruled that a
Muslim boy’s religious circumcision was a crime and that it violated
his basic constitutional rights to bodily integrity.

 

This ruling has no direct effect on other European states, but will buoy
the campaign against male circumcision.

 

 

Thanks to an admirably swift response from the Cologne Regional Court
to my request, I have uploaded the appeal decision (the important one),
the original decision which was under appeal and the court’s
press release.

 

All are in German. I have also uploaded a version of the appeal judgment
in English (updated - I have been sent a much better English translation).

This was a case in which a doctor was engaged by the parents of a
4-year-old Muslim boy to circumcise him solely for religious reasons
(that is, there was no particular medical indication for the surgery).

 

He carried out the circumcision under a local anaesthetic.

Two days later, the child was taken to hospital as the wound was bleeding.

 

The bleeding was stopped and it does not appear that there were any
long-term consequences.

 

The doctor was prosecuted under German criminal law.

 

A local court acquitted him, on the basis that there was no medical
error and the law at the time was unclear in relation to circumcision, a
nd as such he could not have known it was unlawful.

 

An appeal was brought by the prosecutor but the appeal court
upheld the acquittal.

 

 

Whilst the doctor’s acquittal was upheld , this was only because
under the para 17 of the German Criminal Code he was acting
under an “unavoidable mistake of law” and therefore was not liable.

In other words, it was not his fault the law was unclear.

 

 

But it would seem (on my sketchy understanding of German
criminal law) that in future, doctors could be charged and
convicted for carrying out circumcisions as the law is now clear.

 

 

The justification for the decision, as put by the court, is simple and surprisingly short.

 

First, the defence of “social adequacy” was did not exist and was
therefore not available to justify certain actions which would
otherwise be criminal (this appears to be a defence comparable
to the rarely defence defence of “necessity” in English law).

 

Rhe social adequacy of the religious practice of circumcision on
children could not prevail over the “child’s right to self-determination”.

 

 

Secondly, the action of the Defendant could not be justified by the
consent of the child, as he did not have the “intellectual maturity to give it”.

Section 288 of the German Criminal Code requires that...

"Whosoever causes bodily harm with the consent of the victim shall be deemed to act lawfully unless the act violates public policy, the consent notwithstanding."

 

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http://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2012/06/27/german-court-rules-childs-religious-circumcision-was-unlawful-analysis/   

 

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CIRCUMCISION AND LAW.

Circumcision and law.

 

 

 

There exist laws restricting or regulating circumcision, some dating
back to ancient times.

 

In a number of modern states, circumcision is presumed to be legal,
but under certain circumstances, more general laws, such as laws a
bout assault or child custody, may sometimes be interpreted as
applying to situations involving circumcision.

 

Some countries have placed restrictions on circumcision.

 

HISTORY.

 

There are ancient religious requirements for circumcision.

 

The Hebrew Bible commands Jews to circumcise their male children

on the eighth day of life, and to circumcise their male slaves.

(Genesis 17:11-12).

 

Laws banning circumcision are also ancient.

 

The ancient Greeks prized the foreskin and disapproved of the

Jewish custom of circumcision.

Maccabees, 1:60–61 states that King Antiochus IV of Syria, the

occupying power of Judea in 170 BCE, outlawed circumcision on

penalty of death.

 

One of the grievances leading to the Maccabean Revolt.

 

According to the Historia Augusta, the Roman emperor Hadrian
issued a decree banning circumcision in the empire, and some
modern scholars argue that this was a main cause of the Jewish
Bar Kokhba revolt of 132 CE.

 

 The Roman historian Cassius Dio, however, made no mention of

such a law, and blamed the Jewish uprising instead on Hadrian's

decision to rebuild Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina, a city dedicated

to Jupiter.

 

Antoninus Pius permitted Jews to circumcise their own sons.

 

However, he forbade the circumcision of non-Jews that were either

foreign-slaves or non-Jewish members of the household, contrary

to Genesis 17:12.

He also made it illegal for a man to convert to Judaism.

 

Antoninus Pius exempted the Egyptian priesthood from the

otherwise universal ban on circumcision.

 

 

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumcision_and_law#England_and_Wales 

 

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MALE CIRCUMCISION - GLOBAL TRENDS.

MALE CIRCUMCISION.

 

 

GLOBAL TRENDS AND DETERMINANTS OF PREVALENCE, SAFETY AND ACCEPTABILITY.

 

This report is the result of collaborative work between the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the World Health Organization and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

 

The report was written by Helen Weiss, Jonny Polonsky, Robert Bailey, Catherine Hankins, Daniel Halperin and George Schmid.

 

We also thank the following for their written comments: David Alnwick, Chiweni Chimbwete, Isabelle de Zoysa, Kim Dickson, Tim Farley, Inon Schenker and Charles Shey Wiysonge.

 

Layout by Cath Hamill. Our appreciation also goes to Lon Rahn, Tania Lemay, Mihika Acharya and Constance Kponvi for their assistance.

 

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   http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2007/9789241596169_eng.pdf   

 

 

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TESTICLE EXAMINATION.

TESTICLE EXAMINATION.

 

 

 

This YouTube video shows how males should examine their testicles
for any changes: for any small lumps that have appeared, etc...

 

 

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   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBV1I9BmMXc     (3mins.37secs)

 

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INCIDENCE OF CIRCUMCISION USA.

Incidence of Circumcision by State. (U.S.A.)

 

 

This file contains data on the incidence of circumcision in twenty-seven
states: 1997 through 2004.

These data are provided by the Health Care Utilization Project (HCUP)
of the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ) of the
United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Partial data is provided for twenty-seven states for eight years
through 2004.

These data have been collected, sorted, and tabulated by     
Hugh O'Donnell into several categories, including type of     
insurance and by race.

Circumcision data for some (but not all) states is available     

from the HCUP.net site. 

     

Of the 27 states for which there is data, there is data for the 8 years
from 1997 to 2004 inclusive for 13 states, data for the 4 years from
2001 to 2004 for a further 8 states, and data for shorter periods
for the remaining 6 states.

 

 

 

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http://www.cirp.org/library/statistics/USA/staterates2004/ 

 

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WHAT DOES CIRCUMCISION MEAN TO CHRISTIANS?

What does this circumcision mean for Christian parents?

For Christian parents, therefore, circumcision of newborn boys is not a religious issue. It is strictly a medical issue.

As such, it is a procedure which should not be routinely performed without very sound evidence of benefits.

Any medical procedure performed on your child should be fully evaluated in light of your Christian obligation to love, protect, and nurture him.

You need to be well informed.

As Christian parents you need to be aware that no medical group in the world associated with child health supports the routine circumcision of male infants.

In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics made this quite clear, stressing that they do not recommend the routine circumcision of male infants.

They stated: "The purported medical benefits are not significant or compelling enough to make such a recommendation."

In the same year, the American Medical Association joined other medical organizations in not recommending circumcision as a routine procedure, noting that the persistently high percentage of non-ritual circumcisions "occurs in large measure because parental decision-making is based on social or cultural expectations, rather than medical concerns."

You should not agree to circumcision of your newborn son unless and until you fully understand:

(1) the nature of the operation;

(2) the purpose or rationale of the operation;

(3) the risks to your son, not only the common risks but ALL of them (ask your doctor about this);

(4) proof of benefits weighed against potential for physical, psychological, and sexual damage resulting from this unnecessary elective surgery.

The Social/Cultural Dimension:


Simply put, any practice that has been sanctioned for many years will eventually take on a social and cultural scope and rationale.

Now that it has been clearly shown that routine circumcision is not a sound rational medical practice, we have those who would perpetuate the practice based on social and cultural arguments.

Such arguments are numerous. Among them are: he should look like his father, his brother, or the neighbor boy; the desire to conform to social/cultural peer pressure; to perpetuate the "look" of a circumcised penis, arguing that it is more aesthetically pleasing; we just do it because it is the "American Way."

Here we are outside the realm of sound medical considerations.

These are not valid rational reasons to circumcise your newborn son.

Rarely if ever, would there be a valid medical indication to perform a newborn circumcision.

Thus, routine infant circumcision is "cosmetic surgery" in its truest sense. Conformity is not a Christian value.

Christian parents, and especially those parents dedicated to natural birth, home birth, and a holistic approach to health and childcare, should have serious questions about any health care professional who would suggest routine infant circumcision.

The United States is the only country in the world that has practiced the routine circumcision of a large percentage of its male infants.

No other developed country in the world routinely circumcises infants for non-religious reasons.

Given the now-confirmed lack of medical benefit and well-documented evidence of potential damage, one has to wonder why hospitals in the United States continue to provide facilities for routine infant circumcision, and solicit circumcision by presenting non-requested circumcision consent forms to every parent of a newborn male.

Why do doctors - while agreeing to the lack of medical validity of infant circumcision - continue to circumcise newborns?

If you were to suggest similar routine cosmetic genital surgery for a female child, you and the doctor who would consent to perform it would be in violation of state and federal statutes.


Why, then, is this routine cosmetic surgery even possible with regard to a male child?
 
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http://www.coloradonocirc.org/files/handouts/Christian_Parents_and_the_Circumcision_Issue.pdf 

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CIRCUMCISION STORIES - PARENTS WITH SONS.

Circumcision Stories - Experiences of Parents with Sons.

 

 
Parents of newborn sons have an important decision to make in the best interests of their infant boys.

 Making a decision not to circumcise, or being talked out of it by doctors or midwives ignorant of the lifetime consequences, has led to later regrets by some parents when the consequences unfold for their child.

Here are some of their stories.
 
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http://www.circinfo.net/experiences_of_parents_with_sons.html 
 
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NURSE KILLS BABY IN BOTCHED CIRCUMCISION.

 

Nurse spared jail for killing baby in botched circumcision .

 

A nurse who caused the death of a baby in a botched home circumcision has been spared jail.

 

Grace Adeleye, 67, carried out the procedure using scissors, forceps and olive oil and without anaesthetic in Chadderton, Oldham, in April 2010.

Four-week-old Goodluck Caubergs bled to death before he could reach hospital the following day.

Adeleye, who was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence, was given a suspended jail sentence.

A judge at Manchester Crown Court ordered her to serve 21 months in jail, suspended for 24 months.

 

 

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-21374643 

 

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CLITORAL AND PENILE SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES.

Clitoral and penile similarities and differences.

 

 

The clitoris and penis are generally the same anatomical structure, although the distal portion or opening of the urethra is absent in the clitoris of humans and most other animals.

 

The first researcher to assert that men have clitorises was anatomist and sexologist Josephine Lowndes Sevely in 1987, theorizing that the male corpora cavernos (a pair of sponge-like regions of erectile tissue which contain most

of the blood in the penis during penile erection) are the true counterpart

of the clitoris.

 

In contrast, science shows that the clitoris displays a hood that is the equivalent of the penis's foreskin, which covers the glans, and a shaft that is attached to the glans; the male corpora cavernosa are homologous to the corpus cavernosum clitoridis (the female cavernosa); the corpus spongiosum is homologous to the vestibular bulbs beneath the labia minora, and the scrotum is homologous to the labia minora and labia majora.

 

Upon anatomical study, the penis can be described as a clitoris that has been mostly pulled out of the body and grafted on top of a significantly smaller piece of spongiosum containing the urethra.

 

Contrasting the human clitoris's estimated 8,000 nerve endings (for its glans or clitoral body as a whole), estimates for the number of nerve endings in the human penis (for its glans or body as a whole) are more varied.

 

Some sources estimate 4,000 for the human penis, while other sources state that the glans or the entire penile structure have the same amount of nerve endings as the clitoral glans, or discuss whether the uncircumcised penis has thousands more than the circumcised penis.

 

At the tip of the clitoral body, the glans of the clitoris rests as a fibrovascular cap.

 

Some scholars assert that in contrast to the glans of the penis, the glans of the clitoris lacks smooth muscle within its fibrovascular cap, and is thus differentiated from the erectile tissues of the clitoris and bulbs.

 

Additionally, bulb size varies and may be dependent on age and estrogenization.

 

Though the bulbs are considered the equivalent of the male spongiosum, they do not completely encircle the urethra.

 

Internally, the penis is composed of two kinds of tissue.

 

The thin corpus spongiosum runs along the underside of the shaft, enveloping the urethra, and expands at the end to form the glans.

 

It partially contributes to erection, which are primarily caused by the two corpora cavernosa that comprise the bulk of the shaft; like the female cavernosa, the male cavernosa soak up blood and become erect when

sexually excited.

 

The male corpora cavernosa taper off internally on reaching the spongiosum head.

 

With regard to the Y-shape of the cavernosa – crown, body, and legs – the body accounts for much more of the structure in men, and the legs are stubbier; typically, the cavernosa are longer and thicker in males than in females.

 

 

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clitoris#Anatomy_and_structure  

 

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TASK FORCE ON CIRCUMCISION

From the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Technical Report.

 

Male Circumcision:  TASK FORCE ON CIRCUMCISION.

 

Male circumcision consists of the surgical removal of some, or all, of the foreskin (or prepuce) from the penis.It is one of the most common procedures in the world.

In the United States, the procedure is commonly performed during the newborn period.        

In 2007, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) convened a multidisciplinary workgroup of AAP members and other stakeholders to evaluate the evidence regarding male circumcision and update the AAP’s 1999 recommendations in this area.

 

The Task Force included AAP representatives from specialty areas as well as members of the AAP Board of Directors and liaisons representing the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Task Force members identified selected topics relevant to male circumcision and conducted a critical review of peer-reviewed literature by using the American Heart Association’s template for evidence evaluation.

 

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http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2012/08/22/peds.2012-1990 

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