Attorneys for the Rights of the Child Protecting Children’s Newsletter Bodily Integrity © ARC Fall 2009. Volume 7, Issue 3 (Whole Number 21) In This Issue 2009 CDC National HIV Prevention over time evolved to something like: Feature Articles Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, “We are Intact America, a new chil- August 23-26 dren’s rights organization focused on CDC Conference (Bollinger).....page 1 protecting babies from harm. Normally, (Intactivist Report 1) CDC Conference (Taylor)….......page 2 By Dan Bollinger we are at baby fairs and medical con- ferences educating about the harms of GIAW 2009………….……..…..page 3 Aubrey Taylor and I staffed the circumcision and the care of the intact IAS 2009 Cape Town………….page 5 booth at the Centers for Disease Con- penis. When we heard that the CDC trol and Prevention’s (CDC’s) 2009 Paul Mason Speaks………...…..page 7 was preparing to issue a policy state- National HIV Prevention Conference ment recommending circumcision for Boldt Case Update……………..page 8 for the duration of the event. Geor- all American baby boys, as children’s From the Executive Director ganne Chapin of Intact America (IA) advocates, we had to show up and and ARC, Jack Travis, M.D., Amy Cal- speak out.” I don’t know the exact Executive Director’s Message....page 9 lan of IA, and David Llewellyn (like count, but we collected about 6-7 pages Book Reviews Georganne Chapin, an ARC Board of signatures on our CDC petition. Member) also attended as their sched- Circumcision & Human Rights page 10 Pretty amazing considering almost eve- ules permitted to give interviews, ask ryone there is funded by the CDC or Fearful Symmetries……….…..page 10 questions at sessions, and attend meet- has ties with them. There were a lot of Female Circumcision………....page 11 ings. Aubrey and I have worked dem- open minds and a lot of closed minds, onstrations together before; our combi- and very little in between. We got a lot In the News nation of male/female, young/old of perplexed looks (always a good con- ICGI Press Release..…….........page 13 worked very well here, too. The six of versation starter). us made a good team, each of us sup- MGMBill Press Release……....page 13 porting the others in our particular Tasmania Issues Paper…...…...page 14 strengths. HIV Breakthrough………...….page 14 The booth looked great. Photos of it Gays Not Protected……..….....page 15 accompany this article. It is a huge step forward from what pro-intact booths $400K Malpractice Award…....page 16 have looked like in the past and this is Baby Dies; Parents Sue….……page 16 important since the quality and profes- sionalism of the display reflects on the $2.3 Million Settlement……....page 16 quality and professionalism of the or- Circumcision May Be Illegal....page 17 ganization. South Africa Parents In Court...page 17 By far the booth item that got the Uganda: Hard To Implement....page 18 most attention (besides Aubrey’s hair!) was the list on the main banner of ten Tribune Discusses Inactivism...page 18 reasons not to circumcise. I would let Uganda To Outlaw FGM……..page 20 visitors read a few of the points before l to r: David Llewellyn, Georganne introducing myself and I’d often be Chapin, Aubrey Taylor at 2009 CDC Times Mentions Intactivists ….page 20 Conference on HIV chided to let them finish reading. These Circumcision Is A Crime……..page 21 points are important since they sum up We spoke with more than two dozen Helsinki Article Published...….page 22 our position (see the website www. intactamerica.org/node/6t for the list CDC employees. They stopped by to UK Mom Sues After Botch..…page 22 along with text explaining each one in check us out and to collect information. depth). The second most attention- They were surprised to see a group that getting item was the poster made espe- had the balls to show up at a CDC-led Attorneys for the Rights cially for this conference in which we conference in opposition to where the of the Child mentioned the CDC by name, calling CDC appears to be heading. [But see the Executive Director’s Message else- 2961 Ashby Ave., them to task about circumcision and where in this issue, where the CDC’s Berkeley, CA 94705 HIV. posted statement the day after the con- Fax/phone: 510-595-5550 From the booth, our primary com- ference backpedals in an apparently www.arclaw.org munication to passersby varied, and page 2 Attorneys for the Rights of the Child Newsletter Fall 2009 direct response to the intactivist pres- circumcision could possibly have any- week. If nothing else, we provided ence at the conference—Editor] CDC thing to do with helping the HIV pan- CDC officials who think like us the staff politely listened to our claims and demic. Both promised to sign our peti- opportunity to speak out against cir- position. None argued with us. In fact, tion (they were ‘on the clock’ and rep- cumcision and HIV. I am confident that they were the most boring group of resenting the CDC, but said they would we influenced the pending statement to people I spoke with because they just sign online once they were home as an our benefit, but to what degree I don’t stood there with a blank look on their individual, not a CDC employee). know. We need to keep the pressure on face, listened politely for a few min- Health department officials and until the policy statement is issued or utes, asked a few questions, and then staffers, including the Director of the tabled. thanked us for our time. One CDC fel- US Department of Health, were very low said he was glad we were there, open to learning more, and none be- since there was a lot of opposition to 2009 CDC National HIV Prevention lieved that circumcision would help Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, circumcision. A good conversation with HIV. They are on the front lines. I ensued. August 23-26 repeatedly heard that integration of All of the CDC staffers accepted drug counseling, safe-sex education, (Intactivist Report 2) from us copies of the IA policy state- and free condoms worked the best. By Aubrey Taylor ment directed at the flawed African Building allies within this group would I was honored to be asked to help studies and at the CDC’s imminent pol- be a very good next step, since it is staff Intact America’s exhibitor booth icy statement. We asked them to sign these folks that would implement any at the 2009 National HIV Prevention our petition, which always got a policy the CDC would issue. Conference, held in Atlanta from Au- chuckle. gust 23-26 by the Centers for Disease Most of the African and first- generation African-American delegates Control (CDC). Just a few impressions who stopped by didn’t think circumci- of how it went. sion would work in Africa or the US, The traffic and they agreed that such programs seemed a lot would take precious funds away from slower to me than programs that did work. They were ea- booths I’ve done ger to sign the petition. in the past like the I was surprised to hear the hygiene American Acad- rationale from so many upper level emy of Pediatrics health officials. Of course, we coun- (AAP) or baby tered by urging “washing, not amputa- fairs. People had tion” and by noting that “girls have come from a vari- more such places and no one is advo- ety of different cating they be cut.” Our comments arenas instead of Dan Bollinger at 2009 CDC largely fell on deaf ears. On the posi- Aubrey Taylor just one, so it made Conference on HIV tive side, I didn’t hear one instance of guessing what an- someone mentioning urinary tract in- gle to take with each person a little in- The overall position of the CDC fections (UTI’s) as a justification for timidating. Attendees included immi- staff, and other medically trained folks circumcision. grant health workers, public health peo- was that if circumcision works to stop ple, sex worker support people, educa- the HIV pandemic to any degree then it Another passerby, not a CDC tors, government employees, and many should be employed. When I would staffer, said that to him, the most com- others. I think we did great though, bring up that the boy’s human rights pelling argument against circumcision and overall the audience was very re- were being violated when forcibly cir- wasn’t any of the ten reasons listed on ceptive. cumcised they either disagreed or said the banner, but the 100 deaths from the violation was necessary, as vac- circumcision each year that I brought It was definitely a productive en- cines or emergency room procedures up during our conversation. deavor for us to be there, despite the slow crowd. We got the chance to are necessary. They just could not see One CDC staffer invited us back to far enough past their stethoscopes to speak to many CDC employees, and make a presentation at next year’s con- while some just listened politely and grasp the human rights issues. To the ference on immigrants and HIV educa- CDC, it seems, medicine trumps human then left, I can think of at least three tion. He said Kevin Fenton, recently that stopped to discuss the issue at rights. Countering this mistaken belief named as Director of the CDC’s Na- is the most important point we need to length and voiced their skepticism at tional Center for HIV/AIDS, would be the African trials or validity of the get across to them.