Dear Dr. Walker, Thank you for your letter of December 12, 1997. My delay in replying rises from the fact that I have been in Australia for the last month. As I am sure you will understand, the backlog of work is very heavy, consequently, I will only reply very briefly.
All woundings are criminal assault unless they can be justified.
The burden of proof of justification is on the person who causes the wounding. A therapeutic aim is the justification for almost all medical wounding and is an essential justification for those unable to consent to the wounding for themselves. Consequently, a physician would need to show that infant male circumcision was medically necessary before it would be justified. In short, all woundings that are more than de minimis harms, which circumcision certainly is, are criminal assault unless they are justified and the only possible justification for non-religious infant male circumcision is medical justification. The issue which remains is whether the law will recognize profound religious belief on the part of a child's parents as a sufficient justification for a non-medical wounding.