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2021 GAA Newsletter Medical Professionals — Not Parental ties worldwide in protecting the bodily integrity and genital Requests — Push Circumcision autonomy of our boys! Public Insurance Coverage and Intact America commissioned a nationwide survey to explore Neonatal Circumcision Rates the pressures new mothers face to circumcise their sons. The survey asked mothers what they were asked or told about cir- The study objectives of researchers were to compare cumcision, and by whom; how many times they were asked if state-specific trends in neonatal circumcision to previously they wanted to circumcise their son; what they did; and who established estimates and to assess the impact of changes paid if the baby was circumcised. Findings revealed that 94% in Medicaid coverage of the procedure. The data reveals of moms were asked about circumcision, some as many as a trends in neonatal circumcision similar to previous national dozen times. Many felt pressured, even coerced. By coercing estimates. Colorado and Florida revealed 20.9% and 16.0% reluctant, uninformed, or undecided parents to “consent” to reductions in neonatal circumcision rates, respectively, after their sons’ circumcision, the US healthcare system — which defunding. Black neonates appeared to be disproportionately makes hundreds of millions of dollars from the surgery every affected by changes in Medicaid coverage. State-Level Public year — is perpetuating the myth of parental “demand” for Insurance Coverage and Neonatal Circumcision Rates. the surgery. Lobbying a patient’s parents to consent to an Mateo Zambrano Navia, Deborah L. Jacobson, Lauren C. unnecessary medical procedure is a violation of medical Balmert, et al. Pediatrics, November 2020, 146(5)e20201475; ethics. Intact America is working to: doi: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-1475. 1.) Stop physicians and nurses from making their “sales Pediatric Residents Need to Improve pitch” — soliciting parents to “consent” to circumcision of Foreskin Education their newborn sons, Urology researchers at several Chicago Universities hypoth- 2.) End institutional funding of the surgery by state Medic- esized pediatric residents’ inability to offer parents advice on aid programs and private health insurers, and caring for the intact penis and as such are unlikely to offer any advice. The researchers’ survey was completed by 83 3.) Replace “consent” forms included in expectant mothers’ residents (34% response), 45% were likely to offer advice to patient registration packets and medical records with infor- parents; 49% reported never being taught care of the intact mation about the foreskin and proper intact care. penis; 72% learned informally from a senior resident; and only 9% learned from a formal lecture. This study reveals res- Georganne Chapin wrote, “Now that we have the hard idents’ lack confidence in providing advice on preputial care numbers that prove why circumcision is the most common and are unlikely to offer it. When offered, the advice is highly pediatric surgery in the U.S., we’re ready to take down this variable. This study emphasizes the need for improved edu- Goliath. A daunting task, no doubt, but we intactivists are cation. Frequency and Variability of Advice Given to Parents powerful!” on Care of the Uncircumcised Penis by Pediatric Residents: Intact America’s founding donor Dean Pisani hoped to A Need to Improve Education. Malhotra NR, Rosoklija inspire others with his year-end contribution of $50,000 to I, Shannon R, et al. Urology. 2020 Feb;136:218-224. doi: match donations through the end of 2020. 10.1016/j.urology.2019.09.057. Epub 2019 Nov 23. https:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31765653. Considering the majority of the world’s males are intact, it is time for our doctors to join esteemed medical communi- 2021 Genital Autonomy America Annual Newsletter 1 Letter from the Editor Greetings, grassroots organizations typically last for 30 years, and then This, my dear friends and supporters, either transform into a professional movement or disappear. I will be my final newsletter as the head of had begun my work 29 years earlier, so this was timely! Genital Autonomy - America. On June We worked all weekend to articulate our movement’s goals. 30, GA-America will close its doors and At our second meeting, we talked strategy, and also won- merge with Intact America, an organiza- dered what to call our new organization. Dan Bollinger tion I helped to create, and I will become suggested “Intact America” and we unanimously agreed! Our a member of its board of directors. third meeting took place in Tarrytown, New York, at the I began this work in 1979, when I first witnessed a circumci- nonprofit health plan Georganne led. The Aperio consultants sion as a nursing student and in 1985 co-founded with helped us with a budget, and Dean offered to fund the start- Sheila Curran, RN, the National Organization of Circum- up of Intact America if Georganne would agree to lead it. cision Information Resource Centers (NOCIRC). After With Dean’s donation, the wisdom of long-term intactivists, learning the terrible truth about infant circumcision, I spent and help from a highly regarded communications firm, Intact the next ten years educating parents and my co-workers, and America was on its way to becoming the leading genital creating a network of scholars, professionals, and lay people autonomy organization in the United States, challenging working to promote the perspective that cutting a child’s the medical establishment and the status quo, and crafting a genitals is a human rights abuse. Between 1989 and 2018, I tipping point strategy aimed at persuading the public that an organized and held 15 international symposia. In 2016, we intact male body is a normal and desirable male body. changed our name from NOCIRC to Genital Autonomy I feel this is the right time for me to change course – but - America, to work in solidarity with European countries I’m not going away! I’m 80, and I want to finish my memoir that are also trying to end non-therapeutic genital cutting of about intactivism. The board of directors of GA-America is children. pleased about the plan to merge with Intact America, and Over more than four decades, I have met and spoken with happy that, in addition to me serving on that organization’s thousands of people impacted by this harmful cultural prac- board of directors, I will continue doing what I love – serving tice, as well as with too many who defend it. But thanks to as a resource to parents and others as IA’s Clinical Consul- followers and supporters like you, and to the power of social tant. I will also continue to answer emails, walk with the Bay media, our movement is more visible than ever before. We Area Intactivists at the local Pride Parades), and do whatever are making progress. else I can for as long as I am able! In 2008 Dean Pisani — a man whose donations had sup- The past year has been challenging for all of us. I hope you ported NOCIRC booths at the American Academy of and your loved ones are safe and that you’ve found interest- Pediatrics and several important lawsuits — called to ask if I ing, enjoyable, and productive things to do as we wait for this thought his money was being used as effectively as it might pandemic to pass. I’ve spent the year working on my book be. I’d been asking myself the same question, and we agreed and enlisting the help of friends and a professional editor for to hold a conference call with other leaders in the movement their input. I am excited to begin a “final” draft. to talk about the future. Among the people I invited to join I want to thank every one of you for working to protect chil- us was Georganne Chapin, who had impressed me over dren’s rights and supporting my work for all these years. We recent years with her vision and leadership skills. During were the grassroots folks! I hope you will continue to support the group call, Georganne offered to reach out to Aperio, a intactivism by sending your donations to Intact America or firm she knew that specialized in “social entrepreneurship,” to the pro-intact organization of your choice. We all need to help us with our next steps, and Dean offered to fund the support to do our work as we move closer to the tipping discovery process. point that will create an intact nation. Aperio began by interviewing a couple of dozen people who With love, gratitude, and appreciation, had been involved in the movement over the years. Our first formal meeting was held near Dallas at Dean’s office. I remember one of the Aperio consultants mentioning that 2 2021 Genital Autonomy America Annual Newsletter Letter to the Editor “I’m 80 years old and still waiting for those foreskin troubles that occur later. How much longer is ‘later’?” − Harry Meislahn, former Director, NOCIRC of Illinois. Laws, Lawsuits, Legislation, & Ethics “Is Circumcision a Fraud?” News from ARC (Attorneys for the Rights of the Shingo and Adam Lavine, executive advisors to Foregen and Child) Director, Steven Svoboda, JD founders of circumcisionisafraud.com assembled a legal team, “My presentation at the International Conference on Men’s including David Llewellyn and Andrew Delaney, to bring Issues in Chicago, Illinois on August 16, 2019, “Genital a suit against individual doctors, hospitals, and the Amer- Autonomy, the United Nations, and the Law”, overviewed ican Academy of Pediatrics based on an article by Robert the movement to protect genital autonomy in all its multifar- Van Howe, Travis Wisdom, Felix Daase, and Peter Adler, ious forms. “Is Circumcision a Fraud?” Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, Fall 2020.
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