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Wednesday 1 February 2012

Making the cut, follow up

Let me start by saying that most of the attention my last post on this subject attracted was due to it being linked to on an anti-circumcision group's site.  Their members make a practice of going to posts like mine and trying to stop mothers from circumcising their sons.  The link to my post even had a note cautioning people to be nice to me (I assume because I expressed ambivalence and they saw me as a possible "get").  I received responses and emails from people on both sides of the issues and any of the ones that struck me as outright lobbyists or propaganda spreaders really rubbed me the wrong way.  I'm not going to be coerced or pressured into making an important decision by strangers bombarding me with (often biased) info- in EITHER direction.  

Secondly, I won't be disclosing our ultimate decision.  It's not really anyone else's business and I figure our son deserves a little privacy on the issue of his private parts.  If you aren't close enough to us to be changing his diaper, then you don't need to know.  

All that out of the way... I'm all about sharing info so....
We discussed circumcision options with Mandy at a recent midwife visit, so I thought I'd come back and update you with what we learned.  

1.  If we want a circumcision we'd have to pay for it to be done privately.  The NHS will not perform one unless it is medically indicated.
2.  Our GP's practice routinely does them because there is a large Jewish community in our area.
3.  Mandy was unsure, however, if they would be willing to provide one for us at all because I am not Jewish (Judaism is officially passed down through the mother, so our child would technically not be considered Jewish even if Ross was practising.)  Mandy literally had no idea how to go about obtaining one if you aren't Jewish.
4.  Ross is certain that he could find a GP willing to provide a circumcision regardless of our religious standing.

So the bottom line is that we can get a circumcision if we want one, but they don't make it easy on you if you aren't doing it for religious reasons.  And that's the follow-up.

3 comments:

  1. I can get you in touch with someone who had it done in London privately if you really can't find someone. I know you aren't in London but just a thought :)

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  2. So, circumcision, can we file it now? ;-)

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    Replies
    1. For some reason this made me come up with an image of you using a file to wear away the foreskin. This is NOT recommended.

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