Photo Credit: Ray Dumas, Flickr.com
When you have a baby boy “on the way,” one of the things you must explore is circumcision. Removal of the foreskin shortly after birth is a procedure that is performed on baby boys, without real anesthetic. It has been a religious tradition for thousands of years with some modern medical advantages. The key to that last statement, however, is some. There are, perhaps, more medical advantages for “keeping it intact” when you look at the statistics.
A Look At The Procedure
The act of circumcision involves using a special device to open the foreskin of the penis and cut it away. While this may sound like a very basic procedure, it often results in bleeding and may result in later infections. The website of Stroble Law notes that “Today, 7.4 out of every 1,000 children born in live births in the United States experience birth trauma. When something goes wrong during labor and delivery, it can affect not just the life of the infant but the entire family.” That is less than 1%, however, if your child is part of that statistic, that is less than 1% too many.
While birth itself is a difficult passage to survive, on average, 100 newborn baby boys die each year in the United States due to complications from their circumcision. Additionally, many baby boys suffer bleeding, injury, disfigurement and other conditions that may require them to undergo surgery for correction. A few extreme cases have occurred where the baby lost their reproductive organ and had to undergo “sex change procedures” at two days old.
Benefits
According to the website of Doctors Opposing Circumcision there are multiple benefits to leaving it intact – some of these are noted below:
- The foreskin is the natural protective covering and prevents the surface of the glans from becoming thickened and desensitized.
- An intact man can choose as an adult, with fully informed consent, whether or not he wishes to have his foreskin removed. A man circumcised in infancy has no such choice.
- An intact male does not suffer, as an infant, the pain of circumcision.
- An intact male does not have to wonder why someone else removed a normal, useful part of his sexual organs.
- An intact male has skin to cover his glans penis which, in all mammals, is an internal organ.
- An intact male will never have to consider spending years trying to stretch what skin he has over his glans penis.
- Intact men do not have their basic human rights (to an intact body) violated. By not having him circumcised, you can give your son a gentle beginning, the gift of his whole body, and all the sensitivity and feeling that nature intended.
Possible Negatives
According to the American Urological Association, there is a 10 percent increase in urinary tract infection in newborn to age six month baby boys that are not circumcised. However, proper cleaning of the uncircumcised penis during this period can reduce chances of infection to match those with circumcised boys.
A report out of Africa has stated that men who are circumcised have a lower risk of contracting HIV than uncircumcised men. However, this study was only conducted in Africa at the heart of the HIV epicenter and it is very hard to medically apply those statistics to American males.
Status Quo
Unless it is a religious requirement or a personal preference, it may be more beneficial to your baby boy to just leave things alone. This reduces the chance for infection and disfigurement, and it eliminates the pain your newborn will experience during his first few days of life.
Pregnancy in itself is always a high risk undertaking. There is always a risk for birth injures prior to and during delivery that could impact your baby for life. If you have experienced an easy birth, it is something that should make you rejoice. Routine elective procedures such as circumcision don’t have concrete medical evidence that they will improve your child’s life. While you have time and mental clarity before the birth, learn and understand for yourself what is needed for your precious newborn’s continued good health.
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