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Nurses of St. Vincent:
Saying NO to Circumcision
© 1994 Fireball Films

NURSES AS CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS
TO INFANT MALE CIRCUMCISION

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SANTA FE, New Mexico. In the fall of 1992, a group of maternity nurses at St. Vincent Hospital sent a letter to hospital administrators explaining that they could no longer assist with infant circumcisions. They stated:

"ETHICALLY, WE FIND OURSELVES UNABLE TO ASSIST WITH THE PROCEDURE."

The nurses cited the following reasons for their refusal to assist:

Neonatal circumcision is a violation of a newborn male's right to a whole, intact body.
There are no compelling medical reasons for amputation of the penile foreskin. Amputating the foreskin deprives the infant of a protective and sexually functional part of his body.
Circumcision is a surgical procedure with risks of complications, including bleeding, infection, and mutilation.
Neonatal circumcision is painful. Often, inadequate or no anesthesia is used. Post-operative pain management is rare. Parental information on the subject is all too often incomplete or based on myths.
The infant is unable at this vulnerable stage to state his own wishes or to protect himself.

Twenty-four of the approximately 30 nurses at St. Vincent Hospital who would normally assist with infant circumcisions formed a group of professional conscientious objectors, including all of the Jewish maternity nurses. Since that time, additional nurses have joined the group as their awareness of the issue has evolved. In an April 4, 1994 letter to the editor of the American Journal of Nursing, nurses Betty Katz Sperlich and Mary Conant stated:

"We struggled with the ethical dilemma of botched circumcisions and unconcerned physicians at our hospital. The more we educated ourselves, the more we came to the conclusion that every circumcision is a botch job, since it is an assault on a child's sexuality and a violation of a child's right to an intact body. We now focus our efforts on educating parents. How sweet it is to live our ethics. We encourage other nurses to join us."