INTACT AMERICA TALKS WITH HUNDREDS OF PEDIATRICIANS AT 2011 AAP CONFERENCE
At the 2011 American Academy of Pediatrics Conference in Boston, MA, members of the Intact America team—Georganne Chapin, Amy Callan, Marilyn Milos (of NOCIRC), and Dan Bollinger—spoke with hundreds of pediatricians about the decline in the U.S. circumcision rate, and how they need to embrace this trend and "Put Down The Knife!" Certainly, our daily ad in the conference newspaper, coupled with the Open Letter in Sunday’s Boston Globe, helped to bring doctors to our booth. Our banner listing the Ten Reasons Doctors Should Stop Circumcising Babies was a big draw, and we distributed the flyer with the same reasons.
As in previous years, pediatricians from Europe and Latin America gave us a thumbs-up, expressing their incredulity that American doctors continue to conduct this harmful and unnecessary surgery on babies who cannot consent. Of course, we dealt with many doctors who defended infant circumcision on “cultural” grounds, or based on the current media hype about circumcision reducing HIV transmission among heterosexual adults in sub-Saharan Africa—a phenomenon Intact America believes is irrelevant to infants and children in this country. Encouragingly, though, many other physicians practicing in the United States stopped by, asking for literature that will persuade expectant parents to "take the whole baby home."
Marilyn was both stunned and pleased that—for the first time in 32 years of doing this work—a physician said to her, “The parents aren’t my patients; the babies are my patients.” Of course, this is a basic tenet of the intactivist movement, but many doctors still claim that they are forced to circumcise babies because “the parents insist.” Intact America is challenging that paradigm—and the falling circumcision rates show it!
It was great to have a diverse staff (in terms of gender, age, and expertise) at the booth, with Marilyn dispensing detailed clinical information, Amy reflecting the young parent or parent-to-be demographic, and Dan providing expertise on the literature of men speaking out to protest the surgery that was forced upon them as babies. Georganne’s bilingual skills were also much in demand, with pediatricians from Central and South America who wanted to talk—in particular—about the pro-circumcision misinformation that adolescents in their countries are receiving as a result of the “African studies” about circumcision and HIV.
Together, we are making a difference! Every day, more babies are spared the knife. As we continue our fight to convince the AAP not to recommend this useless surgery, there is more you can do to help protect babies:
- Send a message to doctors
- Make a donation to Intact America
- Visit our Resources page to get more informed and to download flyers and talking points
- Tell your family and friends about our campaign
We want to thank all of you who helped us get to Boston, and promote our presence there. With your ongoing help, we can continue reaching more doctors, parents, and caring, compassionate citizens with the message that it's now the norm in this country to leave our sons intact. Infant circumcision is unethical, dangerous, and wrong—and it needs to stop. We need you to spread the word and to help grow our ranks. Help us by sharing our website, our Facebook page, and our Twitter feed with all your contacts.
Below are some photos of our booth at the conference.
Thank you!
—The Intact America Team
Dan Bollinger, Georganne Chapin, Marilyn Milos, and Amy Callanstaffed the Intact
America booth, handing out literature and speaking with hundreds of pediatricians.
Amy Callan holding the AAP conference newspaper, which featured our "Circumcision Rates
Are Falling" ad.
Outside the convention center in Boston, intactivist protesters expresses how
they feel about infant circumcision.
