SORAYA MIRÉ, SOMALI WOMAN WHO FIGHTS TO END FORCED FEMALE CIRCUMCISION, JOINS CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE INTACT BODIES FOR INFANT BOYS

PAINFUL, RISKY REMOVAL OF HEALTHY FUNCTIONING TISSUE VIOLATES HUMAN RIGHTS OF BABY BOYS WHO CANNOT GIVE INFORMED CONSENT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JUNE 22, 2009

A group of parents, pediatricians, health activists, and human rights attorneys today announced the launch of a nationwide campaign to change the way America thinks about male circumcision, arguing that painful and medically unnecessary surgery to remove healthy genital tissue from non-consenting baby boys violates medical ethics and human rights.

Intact America – which unveiled its informational and advocacy website (www.intactamerica.org) at a Manhattan press conference – was joined by Soraya Miré, the Somali filmmaker and activist who has become a global leader in the fight against forced female circumcision.

"The same universal human right to an intact body that I have fought for on behalf of women and girls must apply to boys as well, especially those who are too young to make an informed decision about the integrity of their bodies," said Miré. "We need to ask ourselves: How can it be wrong to surgically alter the genitals of a baby girl without her consent but okay to surgically alter the genitals of a baby boy?"

The Intact America campaign kickoff comes at a time when the Centers for Disease Control is reviewing studies of adult African male circumcision in the context of the HIV epidemic in Africa, with the goal of developing a recommendation to be released here in the United States.

"Studies of adult men in Africa cannot be used to justify subjecting non-consenting American baby boys to irreversible surgery that will remove healthy tissue from their genitals for the rest of their lives," said Georganne Chapin, Executive Director of Intact America. "Let young men make decisions about their own bodies, when they reach an age to make that decision for themselves."

"Before subjecting their newborn sons to painful, risky and irreversible genital surgery that is medically unnecessary, parents should ask themselves if they would do the same to their daughters," said Chapin.

Marilyn Milos is the compassionate nurse who founded NOCIRC, the National Organization of Circumcision Info and Resource Centers. Here Milos speaks of her early motivations, influences, and remembers humanist Ashley Montagu.