It is generally held that male circumcision is legal in the UK provided that there is valid consent and that the procedure is performed by someone who is "competent".
Is male circumcision for babies common in the UK? It's estimated that approximately 20% of males in the UK are circumcised (Morris et al, 2016). Circumcision is more usual in certain cultural or religious communities.
In the UK, around one-third of men were circumcised just before the introduction of the National Health Service in 1948. But the newly-created NHS ruled that circumcision was not medically necessary, and therefore would not be covered.
Once a baby boy has been circumcised, the glans of his penis is permanently uncovered. Health professionals believe that baby boys do not need circumcising, since there is rarely a medical need for it to be done (BAPS, BAUS & BAPU 2015, RCS 2013, Wheeler and Malone 2013).
FGM has been a specific offence since the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985 came into force in September 1985. The Act applied to the whole of the UK. It was replaced by the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 which came into force in March 2004.
Circumcision is a surgical operation to remove skin or tissue from the genitals. All forms of female circumcision are illegal in Australia.
The ruling by the district court of Cologne says circumcision "for the purpose of religious upbringing constitutes a violation of physical integrity". The judgement added: "The child's body is permanently and irreparably changed by the circumcision.
Present. Rates vary widely, from over 90% in Israel and many Muslim-majority countries, 86.3% in South Korea, to 80% in the United States, to 58% in Australia, to 45% in South Africa, to 20.7% in the United Kingdom, to under 1% in Japan and Honduras.
Newborn circumcisions are mainly performed for cultural or religious reasons and it is a relatively rare procedure in the UK. If you're considering having your son circumcised then it is important to discuss the procedure with an experienced doctor so that you can make the right choices about his care.
In the middle of the last century, most Canadian boys were circumcised. However, the rate of neonatal circumcision has declined over time to the current Canadian average of 32%, with significant regional variability.
In Japan, routine male circumcision has never been implemented for newborns and children, and adult males are mostly circumcised at aesthetic clinics. However, media reports indicate a trend of Japanese mothers willing to have their sons circumcised.
Compared to Scottish men, nationals from non-European countries (the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) were more likely to be circumcised (13.1 percent vs. 50.0 percent, respectively, p<0.001).
Because male circumcision is so common in the states, few Americans realize how rare it is most everywhere else. The practice has fallen by the wayside in Australia, Canada, Britain and New Zealand, and fewer than one-fifth of all male Europeans are circumcised.
Male infant circumcision is the most common surgical procedure in the world. Although in some cases performed for clinical reasons, it is today in Britain most commonly performed for religious reasons in Jewish and Muslim infants.
We found 15.8% (95% confidence interval (CI) 14.7 to 17.1) of British men aged 16–44 years reported being circumcised in Natsal 2000. Age specific prevalence was greatest among men aged 40–44 years (19.6%, 95% CI 16.8 to 22.7) compared to those aged 16–19 years (11.7%, 95% CI 9.0 to 15.2).
MC is not commonly practiced by the Chinese. While the prevalence of MC worldwide is almost 30%, only 5% of Chinese males are circumcised [12].
Roman Catholic Church
Pope Pius XII taught that circumcision is only "[morally] permissible if, in accordance with therapeutic principles, it prevents a disease that cannot be countered in any other way."
FACT: No medical organization in the world recommends routine infant circumcision. Circumcision is neither necessary nor guaranteed to prevent any disease. A person's behavior is always going to be more important in preventing disease than whether or not he has a foreskin.
The Royal Australasian College says routine infant circumcision is not warranted in Australia or New Zealand; but it also recognises the procedure continues as a religious or cultural ritual.
Today, the procedure is performed less commonly in New Zealand (estimated at less than 10% of boys), mostly for social, cultural or religious reasons. It is generally agreed among medical professionals that, except in a few instances, there is no medical reason for routine circumcision.
About 80 percent of the world's population do not practice circumcision, nor have they ever done so. Among the non-circumcising nations are Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Scandinavia, the U.S.S.R. , China, and Japan.
In India however, circumcision is viewed as a barbaric practice. If you are an Indian man, you are expected to have a foreskin. Only Indian Muslims circumcise, which is a minority of the population. It is seen as 'mutilation' by others, like cutting off useful parts of the body, and is often ridiculed.
Circumcision can be done at any age. Traditionally, the most common time to do it is soon after your baby is born, or within the first month of life. Because the process is painful, a local anesthetic is used to numb the area and the surgery is performed while the baby is still awake.