The Rationalist Society of Australia has called on the ACT government to protect non-consenting infant boys from irreversible and usually medically unnecessary circumcision.
In a letter to Chief Minister Andrew Barr and his government’s health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith, the RSA welcomed the ACT’s new laws to protect the rights of intersex children from being subjected to medical surgeries without their consent.
In passing the Variation in Sex Characteristics (Restricted Medical Treatment) Bill last month, Mr Barr told the ACT Legislative Assembly that his government believed it was a “fundamental principle” for people, including children, to be involved in decisions about treatments to their bodies.
“Central to the reform I introduce today is a fundamental principle that people, including children, should always be involved in decisions about irreversible and non-urgent medical interventions made to their bodies,” he said.
In her letter, RSA president Dr Meredith Doig noted that infant boys continue to be subjected to non-clinical, medically unnecessary circumcision without having given consent.
“Surely, the same fundamental principle should be applied also to infant boys – as it already is for girls, who are protected by federal laws preventing female genital cutting,” she wrote.
“Will the ACT government now extend the principle of protecting every person, including infant boys, from being subjected to irreversible, usually medically unnecessary but life-altering medical interventions made without consent?”
Dr Doig noted that circumcision can leave men scarred emotionally and psychologically for the rest of their lives.
The RSA is campaigning for a ban on male circumcision across Australia, where up to 23,000 boys each year are being circumcised for social, cultural or religious reasons.
Performed on young children without their informed consent, the practice breaches fundamental human rights.
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Si Gladman is Campaigns & Communications Coordinator for the Rationalist Society of Australia.
Letter to Chief Minister Barr and Minister Stephen-Smith, 28 June 2023
Dear Chief Minister Barr and Minister Stephen-Smith,
I’m writing to you on behalf of the Rationalist Society of Australia, which is Australia’s oldest freethought organisation promoting evidence-based policy, reason and secularism.
We welcome your government’s introduction – and subsequent passing into law – of the Variation in Sex Characteristics (Restricted Medical Treatment) Bill 2023. This is a positive step forward – protecting the rights of intersex children from being subjected to medical surgeries without their consent.
However, we write to ask whether the same principle will be extended to protect the rights of non-consenting infant boys from medically unnecessary surgeries?
In the ACT, as in other states and territories across Australia, infant boys are still being subjected to non-clinical, medically unnecessary circumcision without having given consent. This is also a procedure that offends the right to autonomy and bodily integrity.
Mr Barr, we note that in speaking to the Variation in Sex Characteristics (Restricted Medical Treatment) Bill 2023 in the Legislative Assembly you argued that:
“Central to the reform I introduce today is a fundamental principle that people, including children, should always be involved in decisions about irreversible and non-urgent medical interventions made to their bodies.”
“The bill is designed to protect the rights of people who lack the capacity to make their own decisions about treatments to their bodies. In most cases, they will be children who do not yet have the maturity to make a legal decision.”
We fully agree – and we believe most Canberrans would, too.
Surely, the same fundamental principle should be applied also to infant boys – as it already is for girls, who are protected by federal laws preventing female genital cutting.
The procedure of infant male circumcision is irreversible and can be life-altering, in some cases leaving men scarred emotionally and psychologically for the rest of their lives – as detailed in the new book, The Final Cut: The truth about circumcision, by former RSA vice president, Jonathan Meddings.
The procedure also raises unnecessary health risks. In 2021, a two-year-old child died and a seven-month-old ended up in intensive care after undergoing circumcision in Perth.
Will the ACT government now extend the principle of protecting every person, including infant boys, from being subjected to irreversible, usually medically unnecessary but life-altering medical interventions made without consent?
Sincerely,
Dr Meredith Doig,
President, Rationalist Society of Australia