Tomorrow, the support will come from the medical community, when Dr. Somerville will receive a human rights award at the fifth international symposium on sexual mutilations at Oxford University. The award recognizes her courage for stating that male circumcision is as ethically wrong as female circumcision. In a speech she plans to deliver, Somerville says when she thought about the reaction she would unleash by speaking out to Citizen reporter Sharon Kirkey on the issue last year, her courage almost failed her. The main reason Somerville opposes circumcision is studies show it is not medically necessary. In 1996, a special committee of the Canadian Pediatric Society found the only benefit was a reduced risk of urinary tract infection, which afflicts less than two percent of males and can be treated with antibiotics.
Some evidence also suggests the procedure can reduce the risk of the rare penile cancer.
Even so, about half of North American male babies undergo the surgery. The procedure is surgically simple. The inner and outer layers of foreskin are cut away. Bleeding and infection occur in five to 10 percent of cases, although in rare cases some permanent damage can result. Until recently, the debate over circumcision centered on whether infants find it painful.