Peter W. Adler: Difference between revisions

'''{{FULLPAGENAME}}}''', J.D., M.A., from Massachusetts, USA, is a law professor and legal scholar who has published numerous articles about [[circumcision]] and the law, three of which laid the groundwork for lawsuits in the U.S.

In 2012, Adler published “Is Circumcision Legal?” in the Virginia Journal of Law and Public Policy<ref>https://scholarship.richmond.edu/jolpi/vol16/iss3/3/</ref>, arguing that under U.S. law, as a court had ruled in a case in Cologne, Germany earlier that year, it is assault and a crime for a physician to circumcise a boy for religious reasons, as it violates the child’s right to bodily integrity and self-determination, and the child’s rights supersede the parents’ religious and other rights. The article was used and cited in a federal lawsuit in 2015 in Florida in a “spite circumcision” case that gained national attention, but the lawyer for the plaintiff dropped the suit. The mother, [[Heather Hironimus]], wanted to protect her son from [[circumcision]], while the estranged father was intent on having him circumcised in accordance with their separation agreement. A judge in state court put the mother in jail until she gave permission for the [[circumcision]]. A physician circumcised the young boy against his wishes and over the objection of the mother<ref>https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime--law/charges-dropped-against-boynton-mom-who-fought-son-circumcision/2GDmBYbkPXC8prlU91r1aL/</ref> using a false diagnosis of phimosis or a tight foreskin.  

In 1999, the legal scholar Matthew Giannetti had published an article in the Iowa Law Review arguing that the 1989 and 1999 [[circumcision]] guidelines of the [[American Academy of Pediatrics]] ([[AAP]]) were biased, scientifically indefensible, negligent, and possibly fraudulent<ref>http://www.cirp.org/library/legal/giannetti/</ref>.

In 2012, the AAP made even more extravagant claims that legal scholars<ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236060629_Out_of_step_Fatal_flaws_in_the_latest_AAP_policy_report_on_neonatal_circumcision</ref> and medical experts and ethicists<ref>http://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/2012/08/the-aap-report-on-circumcision-bad-science-bad-ethics-bad-medicine/</ref> in the United States<ref>https://www.academia.edu/23431341/Statement_by_Statement_Analysis_of_the_2012_Report_from_the_American_Academy_of_Pediatrics_Task_Force_on_Circumcision_When_National_Organizations_are_Guided_by_Personal_Agendas_II</ref> and Europe<ref>https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/131/4/796</ref> criticized.

In November 2020, Adler, Van Howe, [[Travis Wisdom]], and Felix Daase published “Is Circumcision a Fraud?” in the Cornell Journal of Law and Policy<ref>https://community.lawschool.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Adler-et-al-final.pdf</ref>. They argued that [[circumcision]] is a complex multibillion dollar per year fraud dating back 150 years, as follows: