We're appalled at genital mutilation of girls. What about boys (and circumcision)?

Article here. Excerpt:

'A bill making it a crime for parents to allow their daughters’ genitals to be cut has passed in Minnesota House committees and is under consideration at the Legislature. If the bill (HF2621), introduced by Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, becomes law, it would further protect girls born with healthy genitalia from having any part of them cut, permanently altered or removed without their consent (and children are, by law, unable to grant valid consent).

But what about boys?

In the United States, doctors who cut (or “circumcise”) the genitals of little boys are paid for their services. But doctors who cut a girl’s genitals can be prosecuted under federal law. Last month, Dr. Jumana Nagarwala was arrested in Michigan for allegedly cutting the genitals of two 7-year-old girls from Minnesota. The girls had been brought to the accused doctor — a mother herself, and a Muslim — by their own moms, to comply with the custom of their culture.

To people like me, an attorney and advocate for health care equity who has been fighting against male circumcision for decades, it’s evident that a double standard is at work here. Americans are appalled when they see female genital mutilation practiced on our soil. But most are blind to the fact that each day, 3,000 baby boys have their genitals mutilated in hospitals, doctors’ offices and private homes in our country. Even the word “circumcision” is a euphemism, meant to give this cultural practice the status of a legitimate medical procedure.'

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