Difference between revisions of "Christoph Kupferschmid"

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I speak to you as a pediatrician, as representative of the professional association of pediatricians in Germany which has their head office here in Cologne and represents almost all residential pediatricians and a very big part of the pediatricians that work in hospitals.
 
I speak to you as a pediatrician, as representative of the professional association of pediatricians in Germany which has their head office here in Cologne and represents almost all residential pediatricians and a very big part of the pediatricians that work in hospitals.
−
All Germany pediatric associations disapprove of circumcisions of young boys when there is no urgent medical indication, when there are no important medical reasons for this surgery. The vast majority of pediatricians in Germany has a different opinion than the majority of the members of the German Bundestag. Parents should not be allowed to decide whether or not their boys get circumcised without indispensable medical reasons.
 
  
−
Circumcision is a physical injury of the child's body that can not be undone. It's not just a little scar that remains like after a surgery, after circumcision the boy lacks something. There's a lack of protection, a lack of sensitivity at his penis. But not only is the body being harmed, the soul of the child is harmed as well.
+
All German pediatric associations disapprove of [[circumcision]] of young boys when there is no urgent [[medical indication]], when there are no important medical reasons for this surgery. The vast majority of pediatricians in Germany have a different opinion than the majority of the members of the German Bundestag. Parents should not be allowed to decide whether or not their boys get [[circumcised]] without indispensable medical reasons.
−
The most intimate, the most sensitive area is subjected to pain that last for days. The adults dictate that, they hold him down, they make him will-less, he has to endure it, he does not understand it, and it still hurts so much for so long.
+
 
 +
Circumcision is a physical injury of the child's body that can not be undone. It's not just a little scar that remains like after a surgery, after circumcision the boy lacks something. There's a lack of protection, a lack of sensitivity at his [[penis]]. But not only is the body being harmed, the soul of the child is harmed as well.
 +
 
 +
The most intimate, the most sensitive area is subjected to [[pain]] that lasts for days. The adults dictate that, they hold him down, they make him will-less, he has to endure it, he does not understand it, and it still hurts so much for so long.
 +
 
 +
We pediatricians are convinced that [[human rights]] are at the very top of our value system. Children's rights are [[human rights]]. A child's right to an unharmed body counts more than the parental right to consent. The child's right to self-determination counts more means more to us then religious command. No one accepts corporal punishment just because some people read from the bible that beating is necessary for a child's upbringing.
 +
 
 +
We pediatricians want boys in our society to be granted the same level of protection as girls. We thoroughly oppose considerations from so-called medical ethicists in America to allow a - what they call it - small female circumcision, and that this small circumcision was a protection for the girls from a later, big circumcision. Those are totally unproven claims, those are abstruse considerations that have been published in big ethical journals in the American medical world now in 2016.
  
−
We pediatricians are convinced that human rights are at the very top of our value system. Children's rights are human rights. A child's right to an unharmed body counts more than the parental right to consent. The child's right to self-determination counts more means more to us then religious command. No one accepts corporal punishment just because some people read from the bible that beating is necessary for a child's upbringing.
 
−
We pediatricians want that in our society boys are granted the same level of protection that girls are. We thoroughly oppose considerations from so-called medical ethicists in America to allow a - what they call it - small female circumcision, and that this small circumcision was a protection for the girls from a later, big circumcision. Those are totally unproven claims, those are abstruse considerations that have been published in big ethical journals in the American medial world now in 2016.
 
 
Big or small, boy or girl, who wants to beat will beat, who wants to circumcise will circumcise. That is no ethical situation, that is no ethical stance, that is no medical stance - we can not allow that.
 
Big or small, boy or girl, who wants to beat will beat, who wants to circumcise will circumcise. That is no ethical situation, that is no ethical stance, that is no medical stance - we can not allow that.
  
−
Yet we doctors may as well not ignore that a huge number of boys in Germany is circumcised without any religious and without any medical reason. The are being circumcised because doctors a badly trained. In their studies and advanced vocational training medical students and doctors learn things about the foreskin that date back all the way to the first half of the last century. They learn that the foreskin was dispensable, that it it could be cut off, and many still believe that with school age, a boy must be able to retract his foreskin with ease, or otherwise us doctor would have to intervene. A few years ago we proved that each year 30,000 boys are circumcised in Germany without religious motivation and also without any medical indication. Almost 30,000 victims, boys, of mutilation by doctors. Mutilation due to nescience, mutilation due to neglect, and a mutilation with which individual people make good profits.
+
Yet we doctors may as well not ignore that a huge number of boys in Germany are [[circumcised]] without any religious and without any medical reason. The are being circumcised because doctors a badly trained. In their studies and advanced vocational training medical students and doctors learn things about the foreskin that date back all the way to the first half of the last century. They learn that the [[foreskin]] was dispensable, that it it could be cut off, and many still believe that with school age, a boy must be able to retract his [[foreskin]] with ease, or otherwise we doctors would have to intervene. A few years ago we proved that each year 30,000 boys are circumcised in Germany without religious motivation and also without any [[medical indication]]. Almost 30,000 victims, boys, of mutilation by doctors. Mutilation due to nescience, mutilation due to neglect, and a mutilation with which individual people make good profits.
  
−
If we pediatricians take children's right seriously, if we take our medical mission seriously, than we have a huge responsibility in terms of circumcision, and we still have a lot to do. We need to ensure that our colleagues stop to needlessly hurt thousands of boys each year. We need to educate them better, we need to inform them about the risks and side-effects and the nonsense of their actions.
+
If we pediatricians take children's right seriously, if we take our medical mission seriously, than we have a huge responsibility in terms of circumcision, and we still have a lot to do. We need to ensure that our colleagues stop needlessly hurting thousands of boys each year. We need to educate them better, we need to inform them about the risks and side-effects and the nonsense of their actions.
  
 
And sometimes we need to fall into their arms and take away their knifes.
 
And sometimes we need to fall into their arms and take away their knifes.
−
It has to stop that small boys are needlessly subjected to pain.
+
It has to stop that small boys are needlessly subjected to [[pain]].
 
It has to stop that small boys have an organ cut off that they will later miss.
 
It has to stop that small boys have an organ cut off that they will later miss.
−
It has to stop that small boys are subjected to emotional distress, that for some results in loss of some of the pleasures of life for years, or even for their whole lifes.
+
It has to stop that small boys are subjected to [[Psychological issues of male circumcision| emotional distress]], that for some results in loss of some of the pleasures of life for years, or even for their whole lives.
 
It has to stop that adults subject children to lasting bodily and emotional harm, when there is no reason for it regarding the best possible health development.
 
It has to stop that adults subject children to lasting bodily and emotional harm, when there is no reason for it regarding the best possible health development.
 
We need to fall into the circumcisers arms, we need to take away the knife from ritual circumcisers, when we can not convince them. We need to take away the circumcision knife from doctors if they use it negligent and without sufficient knowledge.
 
We need to fall into the circumcisers arms, we need to take away the knife from ritual circumcisers, when we can not convince them. We need to take away the circumcision knife from doctors if they use it negligent and without sufficient knowledge.
Line 30: Line 34:
 
Thank you!</blockquote>
 
Thank you!</blockquote>
  
−
{{NYT de}}
+
== 2020 WWDOGA speech ==
−
== Rede vom WWDOGA 2020 ==
+
In 2020 Dr. Kupferschmidt spoke in a video message on [[WWDOGA]]:
−
2020 sprach Dr. Kupferschmidt in einer Videobotschaft zum [[WWDOGA]]:
 
  
 
{{Citation
 
{{Citation
−
  |Text=Guten Tag, mein Name ist Christoph Kupferschmid. Seit 40 Jahren bin ich Kinder- und Jugendarzt und fast ebenso lang für den Schutz von Kindern und Jugendlichen aktiv. Heute spreche ich als Vertreter des Berufsverbandes der Kinder- und Jugendärzte in Deutschland. Unser Verband vertritt fast alle niedergelassenen Kinder- und Jugendärztinnen und -Ärzte und viele aus den Kliniken und aus dem öffentlichen Gesundheitsdienst.
+
  |Text=Hello, my name is Christoph Kupferschmid. I have been a pediatrician for 40 years and have been active in protecting children and adolescents for almost as long. Today I speak as a representative of the professional's association of pediatricians in Germany. Our association represents almost all resident pediatricians and many practicing in clinics and in the public health service.
  
−
Bereits 2012 haben sich alle Verbände der Kinder- und Jugendmedizin in Deutschland dagegen ausgesprochen, dass Kindern oder Jugendlichen die Penisvorhaut abgeschnitten wird, ohne dass es hierfür einen medizinischen Grund gibt. Die Kommission für Ethische Fragen der Deutschen Akademie für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin bestätigte 2016 noch einmal, dass solche Eingriffe nicht im Einklang mit dem Kindeswohl stehen. Sie widersprechen der ärztlichen Ethik, nicht zu schaden.
+
Already in 2012, all associations of pediatric and adolescent medicine in Germany had spoken out against cutting off the penile foreskin of children or adolescents without a medical reason. The Commission for Ethical Questions of the German Academy for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine confirmed once again in 2016 that such interventions are not in line with the child's best interests. They contradict medical ethics not to harm.
  
−
Seit dem Kölner Urteil 2012 habe ich mir viele Gedanken über Beschneidung von Kindern und Jugendlichen gemacht und viele Artikel darüber geschrieben. Ich war an der Stellungnahme unserer Ethikkommission beteiligt und an der Formulierung der medizinischen Leitlinie, die 2017 veröffentlicht wurde und derzeit wieder bearbeitet wird.
+
Since the [[Cologne circumcision court judgment| Cologne ruling]] in 2012, I have been thinking a lot about the circumcision of children and adolescents and I wrote many articles about it. I was involved in the statement of our ethics committee and also in the formulation of the medical guidelines on circumcision, which were published in 2016 and currently are being revised.
  
−
Wir alle wissen, dass muslimische und jüdische Knaben aus religiösen Gründen beschnitten werden und dass diese Beschneidungen medizinisch nicht nötig sind. Die meisten Menschen wissen aber nicht, dass im medizinischen Bereich viel mehr Jungen beschnitten werden als dies durch eine Krankheit der Vorhaut nötig wäre. Ganz ohne religiösen Hintergrund. Abrechnungsdaten der Krankenkassen sagen uns, dass etwa bei jedem zehnten Jungen die Vorhaut operiert wird. Jahr für Jahr. Aus wissenschaftlichen Daten über die Erkrankungen der Vorhaut geht hervor, dass bei höchstens 3 % eine Operation nötig ist. So sind also derzeit zwei von drei Operationen, die im medizinischen Bereich gemacht werden, unnötig.
+
We all know that Muslim and Jewish boys are circumcised for religious reasons and that these circumcisions are not medically necessary. However, most people do not know that many more boys are [[circumcised]] in the medical field than would be necessary due to a disease of the [[foreskin]]. Without any religious background. Billing data from the health insurance funds tell us that every tenth boy is operated on the foreskin. Year for year. Scientific data on the diseases of the foreskin show that for at most 3% of all cases a surgery is necessary. So it is very likely that two out of three circumcisions made for medical reasons are not necessary.
  
−
Wir haben die medizinische Leitlinie 20[1]7 auch deswegen verabschiedet, um den Ärzten eine Hilfe zu geben, dass sie nicht mehr so oft unnötig operieren. Das geschah im Wissen und in der Überzeugung, dass man den Jungen mit der Entfernung der Vorhaut einen großen Teil des erotisch sensiblen Gewebes ihres Penis entfernt. Zudem ist die Operation ja nicht frei von Komplikationen. Leider hatte die Veröffentlichung der Leitlinie keinen wesentlichen Effekt auf die Häufigkeit der Beschneidung aus vorgeblich medizinischen Gründen. Die Anzahl der Beschneidungen ist von 2017 nach 2019 nur wenig gesunken. Das heißt, auch heute sind noch zwei von drei Beschneidungen, die im ambulanten Bereich gemacht werden und von den Krankenkassen bezahlt werden, medizinisch wahrscheinlich nicht erforderlich.
+
We adopted the medical guideline in 2017 especially to help doctors to operate unnecessarily less often. This was done with the knowledge and conviction that with the removal of the foreskin the boy loses a large part of the erotically sensitive tissue of his penis. In addition, the operation is not free from [[Risks and complications| complications]]. Unfortunately, the publication of the guideline had no significant effect on the frequency of circumcision for allegedly medical reasons. The number of circumcisions decreased only slightly from 2017 to 2019. That means that even today, two out of three circumcisions that are made in the outpatient area and paid for by the health insurance companies are probably not medically necessary.
  
−
Als Arzt und Medizinethiker bin ich hierüber traurig. Denn wir Ärzte sollen durch unsere Arbeit nicht schaden. Ich weiß zwar, dass viele Männer niemals einen Nachteil empfinden, weil sie als Kinder beschnitten worden sind. Ich weiß aber auch, dass es viele Männer gibt, die zeitlebens darunter leiden. Den Verlauf können wir nicht vorhersehen. Eines ist jedoch sicher: dass eine entfernte Vorhaut nie wieder herzustellen ist.
+
As a doctor and as a medical ethicist, I'm sad about that. Because we as doctors shouldn't harm with our work. I know that many men never feel at a disadvantage because they were [[circumcised]] as children. But I also know that there are many men who suffer from it throughout their life. We cannot predict the development. However, one thing is certain: a removed foreskin can never be restored.
  
−
Was ist mit den Beschneidungen aus religiösen Gründen oder aufgrund der Tradition? Als Ärzte können wir niemand und wollen auch niemand in seine Religion hineinreden. Wir können und müssen aber immer wieder aufklären, dass es meistens keine medizinischen Gründe für diese Beschneidungen gibt. Der angeblich medizinische Vorteil wird uns zwar immer wieder vorgehalten, es gibt ihn aber nicht, jedenfalls nicht in Deutschland und nicht in Europa. Wir haben heute andere medizinische Standards als zu Zeiten Abrahams und Mohammeds.
+
What about circumcision for religious reasons or due to tradition? As doctors, we cannot and do not want to talk anyone into one's religion. However, we can and must always explain that there are usually no medical reasons for these circumcisions. The alleged medical benefit is repeatedly held towards us, but is does not exist, at least not in Germany and not in Europe. Today we have different hygienic standards and different medical options than in the days of Abraham and Mohamed.
  
−
Die Kinder- und Jugendärzte in Deutschland fordern seit Jahren, dass wir einen gesellschaftlichen Dialog hierüber führen sollen. Nach dem Kölner Urteil und nach der Verabschiedung des sogenannten "Beschneidungsgesetzes" im Deutschen Bundestag 2012 fanden viele Gruppen diesen Dialog notwendig. Sie waren beinahe enthusiastisch. Die Idee ist jedoch eingeschlafen. Alle, bis auf die Betroffenen, leben gut mit der derzeitigen Situation. Man handelt nach dem Motto: <q>Besser nicht daran rühren.</q>
+
The pediatricians in Germany have been demanding for years that we should have a societal dialog about this. After the [[Cologne circumcision court judgment| Cologne ruling]] and after the German Bundestag passed the so-called "[[German Circumcision Act| Circumcision Law]]" in 2012, many groups found this dialog necessary. They were almost enthusiastic. However, the idea fell asleep. Everyone lives well with the current situation, except those affected. One acts according to the motto: <q>Better not touch it.</q>
  
−
Die Eltern haben das Recht, über eine Beschneidung ihrer Söhne zu entscheiden, weil der Staat das Elternrecht und das Grundrecht auf freie Religionsausübung über das Recht der Kinder auf körperliche Unversehrtheit gestellt hat. Das war auch deswegen möglich, weil die Kinderrechte immer noch nicht im Grundgesetz verankert sind.
+
Parents have the right to have their sons [[circumcised]] because the state has given parents' rights and the fundamental right to freedom of religion priority over children's right to physical integrity. This was also possible because children's rights are still not anchored in the constitution.
  
−
Heute ist Corona-Krise, heute ist alles anders. Vor dem Hintergrund großer gesundheitlicher Risiken für die Bevölkerung - namentlich für ältere Menschen - war es überraschend einfach, das Grundrecht auf freie Religionsausübung einzuschränken. Es war genauso überraschend einfach, das Erziehungsrecht der Eltern einzuschränken, indem man die Spielplätze geschlossen hat und die Kontakte und die Bewegungsfreiheit drastisch eingeschränkt. Wohlgemerkt, ich bin nicht gegen diese Maßnahmen, im Gegenteil. Ich halte sie für dringend notwendig, bis wir einen Impfstoff oder gut wirksame Medikamente in Händen haben.
+
Today is corona crisis, today everything is different. In the light of great health risks for the population - especially for older people - it was surprisingly easy to restrict free exercise of religion. It was just as surprisingly easy to limit parenting rights by closing the playgrounds and drastically limiting contacts and freedom of movement. Mind you, I am not against these measures. On the contrary, I think it is urgently needed until we have a vaccine or a good drug in our hands.
  
−
Aber vielleicht gehört das auch zu den Lehren aus Corona, dass wir überkommene Glaubenssätze auf den Prüfstand stellen. Dass es immer so weitergehen muss mit der unnötigen Verletzung von so vielen kleinen Jungen. Verletzung aus religiösen und aus traditionellen Motiven, Verletzung aus Missachtung medizinischer Standards und weil die Eltern es eben so wollen.
+
But perhaps one of the lessons from this crisis is that traditional beliefs are being put to the test. That it always has to go on with the unnecessary injury to so many little boys. Violation from religious and traditional motives, violation from disregard for medical standards and violation because the parents want it that way.
  
−
Ich wünsche allen Kindern, dass sie mit unversehrtem Genitale aufwachsen können, vor allem dann, wenn nicht triftige medizinische Gründe eine frühe Operation erfordern. Ich wünsche allen Kindern, dass sie selbstbestimmt, ohne traumatische Belastung, ihre sexuelle Identität finden und leben können. Ich danke Ihnen fürs Zuhören. Ich wünsche Ihnen Gesundheit und Durchhaltevermögen.
+
I wish that all children can grow up with their genitals [[intact]] unless there are good medical reasons for early surgery. I wish that all children can find and live their sexual identity independently and without traumatic stress. Thank you for listening and I wish you health and perseverance.
 
  |Author=Dr. [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}]]
 
  |Author=Dr. [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}]]
 
  |Source=[[WWDOGA]] 2020
 
  |Source=[[WWDOGA]] 2020
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[[Category:Male]]
 
[[Category:Male]]
  
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[[Category:Pediatrician]]
 
[[Category:Physician]]
 
[[Category:Physician]]
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[[Category:Germany]]
 
[[de:Christoph Kupferschmid]]
 
[[de:Christoph Kupferschmid]]

Latest revision as of 13:26, 23 August 2022

Dr. Christoph Kupferschmid is a paediatrician who spoke at the WWDOGA in 2014, 2016, and 2016, representing the BVKJ.

2016 WWDOGA speech

His WWDOGA 2016 speech (translated by Stefan Schritt):

I'd like to thank for the invitation and the opportunity to speak here today. Please excuse that I can't do this hands-free, I somewhat need my sheet music to sing.

I speak to you as a pediatrician, as representative of the professional association of pediatricians in Germany which has their head office here in Cologne and represents almost all residential pediatricians and a very big part of the pediatricians that work in hospitals.

All German pediatric associations disapprove of circumcision of young boys when there is no urgent medical indication, when there are no important medical reasons for this surgery. The vast majority of pediatricians in Germany have a different opinion than the majority of the members of the German Bundestag. Parents should not be allowed to decide whether or not their boys get circumcised without indispensable medical reasons.

Circumcision is a physical injury of the child's body that can not be undone. It's not just a little scar that remains like after a surgery, after circumcision the boy lacks something. There's a lack of protection, a lack of sensitivity at his penis. But not only is the body being harmed, the soul of the child is harmed as well.

The most intimate, the most sensitive area is subjected to pain that lasts for days. The adults dictate that, they hold him down, they make him will-less, he has to endure it, he does not understand it, and it still hurts so much for so long.

We pediatricians are convinced that human rights are at the very top of our value system. Children's rights are human rights. A child's right to an unharmed body counts more than the parental right to consent. The child's right to self-determination counts more means more to us then religious command. No one accepts corporal punishment just because some people read from the bible that beating is necessary for a child's upbringing.

We pediatricians want boys in our society to be granted the same level of protection as girls. We thoroughly oppose considerations from so-called medical ethicists in America to allow a - what they call it - small female circumcision, and that this small circumcision was a protection for the girls from a later, big circumcision. Those are totally unproven claims, those are abstruse considerations that have been published in big ethical journals in the American medical world now in 2016.

Big or small, boy or girl, who wants to beat will beat, who wants to circumcise will circumcise. That is no ethical situation, that is no ethical stance, that is no medical stance - we can not allow that.

Yet we doctors may as well not ignore that a huge number of boys in Germany are circumcised without any religious and without any medical reason. The are being circumcised because doctors a badly trained. In their studies and advanced vocational training medical students and doctors learn things about the foreskin that date back all the way to the first half of the last century. They learn that the foreskin was dispensable, that it it could be cut off, and many still believe that with school age, a boy must be able to retract his foreskin with ease, or otherwise we doctors would have to intervene. A few years ago we proved that each year 30,000 boys are circumcised in Germany without religious motivation and also without any medical indication. Almost 30,000 victims, boys, of mutilation by doctors. Mutilation due to nescience, mutilation due to neglect, and a mutilation with which individual people make good profits.

If we pediatricians take children's right seriously, if we take our medical mission seriously, than we have a huge responsibility in terms of circumcision, and we still have a lot to do. We need to ensure that our colleagues stop needlessly hurting thousands of boys each year. We need to educate them better, we need to inform them about the risks and side-effects and the nonsense of their actions.

And sometimes we need to fall into their arms and take away their knifes. It has to stop that small boys are needlessly subjected to pain. It has to stop that small boys have an organ cut off that they will later miss. It has to stop that small boys are subjected to emotional distress, that for some results in loss of some of the pleasures of life for years, or even for their whole lives. It has to stop that adults subject children to lasting bodily and emotional harm, when there is no reason for it regarding the best possible health development. We need to fall into the circumcisers arms, we need to take away the knife from ritual circumcisers, when we can not convince them. We need to take away the circumcision knife from doctors if they use it negligent and without sufficient knowledge.

I thank you for standing here for this effort, and that you gave me the opportunity to once more formulate and clarify our responsibility and our tasks as pediatricians.

Thank you!

2020 WWDOGA speech

In 2020 Dr. Kupferschmidt spoke in a video message on WWDOGA:

“ Hello, my name is Christoph Kupferschmid. I have been a pediatrician for 40 years and have been active in protecting children and adolescents for almost as long. Today I speak as a representative of the professional's association of pediatricians in Germany. Our association represents almost all resident pediatricians and many practicing in clinics and in the public health service.

Already in 2012, all associations of pediatric and adolescent medicine in Germany had spoken out against cutting off the penile foreskin of children or adolescents without a medical reason. The Commission for Ethical Questions of the German Academy for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine confirmed once again in 2016 that such interventions are not in line with the child's best interests. They contradict medical ethics not to harm.

Since the Cologne ruling in 2012, I have been thinking a lot about the circumcision of children and adolescents and I wrote many articles about it. I was involved in the statement of our ethics committee and also in the formulation of the medical guidelines on circumcision, which were published in 2016 and currently are being revised.

We all know that Muslim and Jewish boys are circumcised for religious reasons and that these circumcisions are not medically necessary. However, most people do not know that many more boys are circumcised in the medical field than would be necessary due to a disease of the foreskin. Without any religious background. Billing data from the health insurance funds tell us that every tenth boy is operated on the foreskin. Year for year. Scientific data on the diseases of the foreskin show that for at most 3% of all cases a surgery is necessary. So it is very likely that two out of three circumcisions made for medical reasons are not necessary.

We adopted the medical guideline in 2017 especially to help doctors to operate unnecessarily less often. This was done with the knowledge and conviction that with the removal of the foreskin the boy loses a large part of the erotically sensitive tissue of his penis. In addition, the operation is not free from complications. Unfortunately, the publication of the guideline had no significant effect on the frequency of circumcision for allegedly medical reasons. The number of circumcisions decreased only slightly from 2017 to 2019. That means that even today, two out of three circumcisions that are made in the outpatient area and paid for by the health insurance companies are probably not medically necessary.

As a doctor and as a medical ethicist, I'm sad about that. Because we as doctors shouldn't harm with our work. I know that many men never feel at a disadvantage because they were circumcised as children. But I also know that there are many men who suffer from it throughout their life. We cannot predict the development. However, one thing is certain: a removed foreskin can never be restored.

What about circumcision for religious reasons or due to tradition? As doctors, we cannot and do not want to talk anyone into one's religion. However, we can and must always explain that there are usually no medical reasons for these circumcisions. The alleged medical benefit is repeatedly held towards us, but is does not exist, at least not in Germany and not in Europe. Today we have different hygienic standards and different medical options than in the days of Abraham and Mohamed.

The pediatricians in Germany have been demanding for years that we should have a societal dialog about this. After the Cologne ruling and after the German Bundestag passed the so-called " Circumcision Law" in 2012, many groups found this dialog necessary. They were almost enthusiastic. However, the idea fell asleep. Everyone lives well with the current situation, except those affected. One acts according to the motto: Better not touch it.

Parents have the right to have their sons circumcised because the state has given parents' rights and the fundamental right to freedom of religion priority over children's right to physical integrity. This was also possible because children's rights are still not anchored in the constitution.

Today is corona crisis, today everything is different. In the light of great health risks for the population - especially for older people - it was surprisingly easy to restrict free exercise of religion. It was just as surprisingly easy to limit parenting rights by closing the playgrounds and drastically limiting contacts and freedom of movement. Mind you, I am not against these measures. On the contrary, I think it is urgently needed until we have a vaccine or a good drug in our hands.

But perhaps one of the lessons from this crisis is that traditional beliefs are being put to the test. That it always has to go on with the unnecessary injury to so many little boys. Violation from religious and traditional motives, violation from disregard for medical standards and violation because the parents want it that way.

I wish that all children can grow up with their genitals intact unless there are good medical reasons for early surgery. I wish that all children can find and live their sexual identity independently and without traumatic stress. Thank you for listening and I wish you health and perseverance.
– Dr. Christoph Kupferschmid (WWDOGA 2020)[1]

External links

References

  1. ↑ REFweb WWDOGA 2020 - Christoph Kupferschmid, YouTube, MOGiS e.V.. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
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