Philosophical Society debates ethics of neonatal circumcision

Article here. Excerpt:

'Uriah Burke began his talk with a warning.

The Ph.D. philosophy student cautioned the audience that his lecture slides depicted “extraordinarily graphic” images of people in pain and invited those sensitive to such images to avert their eyes or leave the classroom.

The images in question did not depict battlefield carnage or grotesque violence, but a familiar and widespread surgical practice that several of the students gathered in Park Hall were likely to have experienced firsthand.

According to the National Hospital Discharge Survey, almost 70 percent of males born in the northeastern United States in 1994 underwent circumcision, the surgical removal of the foreskin.

The practice of female circumcision, the removal of all or part of the clitoris, is a far more controversial practice, practiced mainly in East Africa.

On Tuesday night, Burke presented to the Buffalo Philosophical Society that the widespread application of circumcision to young boys and girls alike is an unethical practice that violates an individual’s right to consent and autonomy. The debate sparked strong discussion from both sides and ran a half an hour past its 9 p.m. end time.

“Neonates [newborn children], uncontroversially, cannot consent to anything,” Burke said.'