Changes

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

In 2011, Adler published, “Is it lawful to use Medicaid to pay for circumcision?” in the ''Journal of Law and Medicine''.

}}</ref> based on the article alleging that it is unlawful for the Massachusetts Medicaid agency [https://www.mass.gov/topics/masshealth MassHealth ] to use Medicaid to pay for non-therapeutic [[circumcision]]. MassHealth moved to dismiss the lawsuit.

In 2012, Adler published “Is Circumcision Legal?” in the ''Virginia Journal of Law and Public Policy''<ref>{{REFjournal

}}</ref>, arguing that under U.S. law, as a court had ruled in a [[Cologne circumcision court judgment| 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>{{REFnews

}}</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>{{REFweb

# Urged on by the [[American Academy of Pediatrics]], a trade association with an undisclosed financial bias in favor of perpetuating [[circumcision]], physicians make fraudulent medical claims to persuade parents to elect [[circumcision]]. These include the false claims that [[circumcision]] prevents urinary tract infections, penile cancer, and some sexually transmitted infections including [[HIV]], and the claim that the benefits outweigh the risks, which is illogical as the AAP conceded in 2012 that it does not know the risks, and the AAP assigned no value to the foreskin, even though genitally intact man greatly value it. Physicians also use fraudulent diagnoses including phimosis or a tight foreskin, which is normal, and “newborn boy”.

In what is certain to be a landmark case in [[circumcision]] and the law, in February 2021, Shingo Lavine, the victim of a negligently performed [[circumcision]], and his parents Adam and Aiko Lavine, represented by the [[circumcision]] trial lawyer [[David Llewellyn]] of Georgia and attorney Andrew DeLaney of New Jersey, sued a medical clinic and the [[American Academy of Pediatrics]] in New Jersey state court. The suit alleges, based on Giannetti’s 1999 article and the 2020 fraud article, that the [[AAP]] committed intentional fraud and constructive fraud in issuing its pro-[[circumcision]] 1989 and 1999 [[circumcision]] policy statements. On June 18, 2021, the [[AAP]] filed a Motion to Dismiss, and the plaintiffs will find a responsive Memorandum of Law. The case now has been removed to federal court based on diversity of citizenship.