My child, my choice

"My child, my choice" is a claim said by some parents who want to justify their decision to have their child circumcised without any medical indication.

Parental responsibility

In almost every country in the world, parents are primarily responsible for their children. This responsibility is also referred to as parental rights in many legal bases and constitutions. Parental rights relate primarily to the care of the children, their upbringing and protection. Thus, the parental right as a proxy right is above all a parental obligation to protect the children from harm.

Limitations

Parental rights are never unlimited. For example, if the child's life is threatened and therefore urgent medical treatment is required, parents cannot object to this treatment. For example, Jehovah's Witnesses cannot ban medically urgently needed blood transfusions for their children (although many try to). In many nations, violence against children is also forbidden by law already and no longer covered by any parental right of education.

Illegal consent

On the other hand, parents acting as representatives of their children cannot ethically consent to operations that are not medically necessary. This is misunderstood by some parents. Especially in societies where the child's right to physical integrity is still often disregarded by medical staff in clinics and hospitals, since circumcision is very profitable, many parents believe that the doctors are not doing anything wrong. In addition, doctors often ask parents to consent to operations on their children that are not medically necessary. Most parents will not know that doctors have no legal right to request this surrogate consent. Such consent to operations on children that are not medically necessary is invalid per se; the doctor and parents are liable to prosecution.

See also

• Parental rights
• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
• Circumcision Is A Fraud: And The Coming Legal Reckoning