Circumcision Exposed! The Hidden Trauma

Benefits of routine infant circumcision have been thoroughly disproved. Studies have shown that circumcision, far from being a harmless and painless procedure, is one of the most painful procedures that can be performed on an infant and has potentially far-reaching detrimental
physical and psychological consequences. If God wanted men to be circumcised, they would have been born without a foreskin.

Infant Circumcision

Circumcision is a surgical procedure that involves forcefully separating the foreskin from the glans and then cutting it off. It is typically accomplished with a special clamp device. Over a dozen studies confirm the extreme pain of circumcision. It has been described as “among the most painful [procedures] performed in neonatal medicine.” In one study, researchers concluded that the pain was “severe and persistent.” Investigators reported, “This level of pain would not be tolerated by older patients."

"The baby started shaking his head back and forth, the only part of his body free to move, as the doctor used another clamp to crush the foreskin lengthwise, which he then cut. This made the opening of the foreskin large enough to insert a circumcision instrument, the device used to protect the glans from being severed during the surgery. The baby began to gasp and choke, breathless from his shrill continuous screams. How could anyone say circumcision is painless when the suffering is so obvious? "

"Already, an ever growing number of physicians are opposed to routine neonatal circumcision. These doctors recognize that no one has the right to forcibly remove sexual body parts from another individual. They recognize that doctors should have no role in this painful, unnecessary procedure inflicted on the newborn." First do no harm..."

March 1, 1999: After a two year investigation, the American Academy of Pediatrics concluded that the "potential medical benefits" of infant circumcision aren't significant enough and therefore, they do not recommend it as a routine procedure.

"What I Wish I Had Known"

I didn't know what circumcision was when I consented to have my three sons circumcised. My doctor had told me the surgery was a necessary health measure, that it didn't hurt, and that it only took a moment to perform... like cutting the umbilical cord, I thought. I certainly wasn't prepared when, in nursing school several years later, I saw the surgery for the first time.

We students filed into the newborn nursery to find a baby strapped spread-eagle to a plastic board on a counter top across the room. He was struggling against his restraints—tugging, whimpering, and then crying helplessly. . . I stroked his little head and spoke softly to him. He began to relax and was momentarily quiet. The silence was soon broken by a piercing scream—the baby’s reaction to having his foreskin pinched and crushed as the doctor attached the clamp to his penis. The shriek intensified when the doctor inserted an instrument between the foreskin and the glans (head of the penis), tearing the two structures apart. (They are normally attached to each other during infancy so the foreskin can protect the sensitive glans from urine and feces.) The baby started shaking his head back and forth—the only part of his body free to move—as the doctor used another clamp to crush the foreskin lengthwise, which he then cut. This made the opening of the foreskin large enough to insert a circumcision instrument, the device used to protect the glans from being severed during the surgery. The baby began to gasp and choke, breathless from his shrill continuous screams. How could anyone say circumcision is painless when the suffering is so obvious? My bottom lip began to quiver, tears filled my eyes and spilled over. I found my own sobs difficult to contain. How much longer could this go on? During the next stage of the surgery, the doctor crushed the foreskin against the circumcision instrument and then, finally, amputated it. The baby was limp, exhausted, spent."

Complications of Circumcision

"Williams and Kapila estimate that a realistic rate of complications from neonatal circumcision ranges from 2% to 10%. To many men who become aware of the function and value of the prepuce, the fact that this genital sensory organ was amputated from them at birth is itself a complication of circumcision; in which case, the actual complication rate is 100%... For males fortunate enough to survive the surgery without immediate complications, there is a growing awareness among men of other delayed, long-term consequences of neonatal circumcision, which are only now beginning to be documented. "

Paul M. Fleiss, MD - "It seems absurd that today we choose to mutilate a significant percentage of our newborn infants. As a young medical student in the 1960s, I learned the technique of performing the surgical procedure of male circumcision. It was not difficult to learn this procedure, and I very rapidly became expert at removing the foreskin from a newborn. I was able to do circumcisions in a very short amount of time -- four or five minutes. I did this at the parents' request, and I was oblivious to the infant's cry.

Several years later into my pediatrics career, after having performed perhaps a hundred circumcisions, I became aware of the newborn's pain that I had somehow managed to put out of my consciousness. I now know that every baby that I circumcised cried and that I never responded to their pain. I then decided I was on their side; my job was to protect babies, not harm them. It was only then that I began my study of the foreskin, how it is unlike any tissue found elsewhere in the human body and accordingly, has special functions. The doctors and others performing this procedure on newborn babies do not know the pain they are causing nor do they appreciate the functions of that unique bit of tissue."

"It's about time that this cruel practice was put in its place - in the history books. I can't believe there's still controversy over circumcision - something so obviously wrong that it pains me to think that supposedly intelligent people are still perpetrating this mindless abuse on their own children even as we move forward into the 21st century. To the religion argument: If God wanted men to be circumcised, we'd have been born without a foreskin. To the medical argument: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. When will doctors start practicing what they're taught - "First, do no harm".

Quite a number of famous child care experts and doctors recommend against circumcision in their books. Sheila Kitzinger very emphatically recommends that parents leave their sons intact. Dr. Lendon Smith goes into detail explaining the foreskin’s purposes and giving all the reasons why circumcision should not be performed. Dr. Spock, in his most recent book, stated “I feel that there’s no solid medical evidence at this time to support routine circumcision.” He recommends “leaving the foreskin the way Nature meant it to be.” Penelope Leach also recommends against routine circumcision.

Protection from Unwanted Circumcision

There are many reports of boys being circumcised in hospitals in the United States against their parents' wishes.

Many parents believe their child can be protected against the pain of circumcision through the use of anesthesia, but there is no pain control method that is 100 percent effective. All infants suffer during and after the procedure. There are risks from anesthesia and there are risks if anesthesia is not used. If a baby is left intact, he is not subjected to any of these risks.