IA: Thank You for Helping Us Make an Impact at this Year's AAP Conference

Last week, members of the Intact America team—Georganne Chapin, Amy Callan, Marilyn Milos (of NOCIRC), and Dan Bollinger—traveled to Boston to attend the annual conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Thanks to your financial support, we were able to publish an Open Letter in the Sunday edition of the Boston Globe, as well as an ad in the conference’s daily newspaper, inviting pediatricians to visit our booth.

And visit they did! Hundreds of doctors stopped by to talk with us about circumcision, and why we’re fighting to bring an end to the practice:

• Many sided with us, taking literature with them to distribute to their patients;
• Dozens of physicians from overseas were appalled that the practice is so widespread in the United States;
• Others debated with us, and we spent a great deal of time educating them and spreading the message that circumcision is unnecessary, harmful, and wrong.
• We also—more than ever before—spent a great deal of time educating doctors about the value and functions of the foreskin, the average age of retractability (10.4 years), and the need to refrain from premature forced retraction.

Read the full conference report

While the conference is behind us, we still have so much work to do! Rumors abound that the AAP as well as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) will be issuing new policies recommending circumcision. These organizations cannot ignore the ethics—i.e., it’s medically unnecessary surgery performed on patients who cannot consent. And if they state that it’s wrong to cut the genitals of girls, then they MUST state it’s wrong to cut the genitals of boys.

How can you help? Send a message telling doctors to Put Down The Knife!