Oregon laws that forbid genital cutting of girls but stay silent on male circumcision must be expanded to equally protect all children, a new lawsuit asserts.
A father and son who were circumcised at birth decades apart, as well as two brothers whose foreskins were cut off as babies, filed the lawsuit against the state of Oregon on Thursday in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
“It is quite barbaric and strange that we in America cut non-consenting children at a very early age without any medical necessity,” said Lake Perriguey, a civil rights attorney well known for fighting to overturn Oregon’s ban on gay marriage a decade ago.
Perriguey is acting as local counsel in the case.
The 76-page lawsuit led by Eric Clopper, a Los Angeles-based attorney and leader of the advocacy group Intact Global, alleges that genital cutting of newborn boys has been “medicalized” in the U.S. but in reality provides no health benefits and harms healthy sexual function.
“There’s a lot of people who feel their bodily autonomy has been stolen from them,” said Clopper. “All children deserve equal protection under the law from the harms of genital cutting.”
Recent statistics are hard to come by, but a 2013 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found that circumcision rates had been declining for the prior three decades, especially in western states like Oregon. About 40% of newborn males in western states had their foreskins surgically removed in 2010, the report said.
The American Academy of Pediatrics found in 2012 that circumcision’s health benefits outweigh the risks but that “health benefits are not great enough to recommend” the procedure routinely. The lawsuit adds that medical groups in Europe accused the American academy of not going far enough due to “cultural bias.”
More recent guidelines issued by the academy no longer comment on the issue.
The foreskin covers the end of the penis; its removal can lead to dryness and the need for artificial lubrication during sex.
Some faith groups, including Jewish and Muslim communities, look favorably on circumcision, but Perriguey notes that female genital cutting also has proponents who cite religious or cultural traditions in some countries in Africa, where the practice remains common.
Plaintiffs on the suit are Dane Hadachek, 17, and his father Cecil Mininger, 39, who were both circumcised at birth in a Bend hospital; Sierra Hadachek, Mininger’s wife; and Carter and Landon Moody, brothers who were circumcised at a Portland hospital in 1998 and 2000.
The plaintiffs ask the court to declare current Oregon laws banning only female genital cutting a violation of the state constitution’s Equal Rights Amendment and Equal Protection Clause. They say the court must either ban it for children of any gender or overturn the statute entirely. (Female genital cutting would remain illegal in Oregon under federal law).
The ruling could allow victims of male genital cutting to sue their circumcisers, court papers note.
—Zane Sparling covers breaking news and courts for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach him at 503-319-7083, zsparling@oregonian.com or @pdxzane.
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