Changes

During the 1980s, some phycisians physicians were condemning circumcision as "barbaric and unnecessary," and only "advocated by the uninformed." In 1986, Blue Shield providers in several states decided to discontinue coverage of neonatal circumcision. In reaction to this, Fink sent a manifesto entitled "In Defense of Circumcision" to the ''New York Times'' and the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', repeating antiquated claims of benefits; many of which weren't even published.<ref>{{REFbook |last=Wallerstein, |first=Edward |author-link=Edward. ''Wallerstein |title=Circumcision: An American Health Fallacy''. |location=New York: |publisher=Springer, |year=1980. " |chapter=Circumcision: Information," |pages=507-12.512}}</ref>

In 1986, Fink sent a letter--"A possible Explanation for Heterosexual Male Infection with AIDS," where he argued that the hard and toughened glans of the circumcised male resisted infection, while the soft and sensitive foreskin and glans mucosa of the intact male were ports of entry.<ref>{{REFjournal |last=Fink, |first=Aaron J. " |author-link=Aaron J. Fink |title=A possible Explanation for Heterosexual Male Infection with AIDS." '' |journal=New England Journal of Medicine'' |volume=315, |issue=18 ( |date=1986): |page=1167}}</ref> Fink proposed in his letter: "I suspect that men in the United States, who, as compared with those in Africa and elsewhere, have had less acquisition of AIDS, have benefited from the high rate of newborn circumcision in the United States," regardless of the fact that the United States has one of the highest circumcision rates, and one of the highest HIV rates, in the western (industrialized) world (compare with European countries, Canda, and Australia).<ref>{{REFweb

|Source="This Little Operation". ''[[Marked in Your Flesh]].'' p.206-208

Fink repeated his argument in a small book on circumcision, ''Circumcision: A parent's Decision for Life'', addressed to parents and published in 1988.<ref>{{REFbook |last=Fink, |first=Aaron J. |author-link=Aaron J. ''Fink |title=Circumcision: A Parent's Decision for Life''. |trans-title=Beschneidung: Lebenslange Entscheidung der Eltern |language=Englisch |location=Mountain View. Calif.: , Kalifornien |publisher=Kavanah, |date=1988.}}</ref> The focus was on sexually transmitted diseases, which Fink declared to be "no longer a matter of morals but an issue of life or death." Defeating the threat, he informed prospective parents, and called for immediate action: "The facts now point to circumcision, cutting off the foreskin, as a life-sparing path to public and personal health." And lest anyone doubt the urgency of the situation, he added the questions likely to generate unease among the skeptics and human right proponents:

In 1987, Fink filed a resolution entitled "Newborn Circumcision as a Public Health Measure" with the California Medical Association, saying that "it has been recently hypothesized that a circumcision, preferably in the newborn period, may lessen the acquisition, and in turn, the spread of AIDS, a sexually transmitted disease." The association's advisory panels on pediatrics and urology concluded that the argumens arguments for adoption were "not sufficiently convincing"; and although one panel stood by circumcision as an "acceptable preventive health measure," both panels recommended against the adoption of the resolution. The association's Scientific Board declined endorsement, and the resolution was not adopted.<ref>Aaron Fink, California Medical Association, Resolution 712-87, March 7-11, 1987; Joan B. Hodgman and Joseph B. Hart, "Report to the Scientific Board" (undated, March 1987?)</ref>

In response to the controversy surrounding the Fink's resolution, and Hardebeck's attempt to counteract it, a group of circumcision opponents held a conference in a hotel across the street from the one housing the medical meeting. The conference organizer was the nation's leading opponent of infant circumcision: [[Marilyn F. Milos]]. the founder and director of the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers (NOCIRC).<ref>Marilyn Milos, personal communication with [[Leonard B. Glick]], July 27, 2001</ref><ref>Hardebeck, John W. "Newborn Circumcision: Medical Necessity or Useless Mutilation?" Truth Seeker I, 3 (July-August 1989)</ref><ref>Snyder, "Testimony Against Circumcision." (California Medical Association, March 4, 1989.) Truth Seeker I, 3 (July-August 1989): 51.</ref> The three-day conference, labeled the First International Symposium on Circumcision, was so successful that six more symposia, resulting to date in publication of four volumes based on the proceedings, have been held since then, in locations as diverse as Lausanne, Oxford and Sidney.<ref>{{REFbook |editor=Denniston, George C., and & Marilyn Fayre Milos, eds. '' |title=Sexual Mutilations : A Human Tragedy''. |location=New York: |publisher=Plenum, |year=1997.}}</ref><ref>{{REFbook |editor=Denniston, George C., / Frederick Mansfield Hodges, and / Marilyn Fayre Milos, eds. '' |title=Male and Female Circumcision: Medical, Legal, and Ethical Considerations in Pediatric Practice''. |location=New York: |publisher=Kluwer Academic/Plenum, |year=1999.}}</ref><ref>{{REFbook |editor=Denniston, George C., / Frederick Mansfield Hodges, and / Marilyn Fayre Milos, eds. '' |title=Understanding Circumcision; A Multi-Disciplinary Aproach to a Multi-Dimensional Problem''. |location=New York: |publisher=Kluwer Academic/Plenum, |year=2001.}}</ref><ref>{{REFbook |editor=Denniston, George C., / Frederick Mansfield Hodges, and / Marilyn Fayre Milos, eds. '' |title=Flesh and Blood: Perspectives on the Problem of Circumcision in Contemporary Society''. |location=New York: |publisher=Kluwer Academic/Plenum, |year=2004.}}</ref> It could be said that Fink unintentionally created a vigorous new expression of opposition to circumcision.

Fink sent a letter to the British medical journal, prompting two hostile replies, both from Leeds physicians.<ref>{{REFjournal |last=Fink, |first=Aaron J. |author-link=Aaron J. "Fink |title=Newborn Circumcision: A Long-term Strategy for AIDS Prevention" (letter). |journal=Journal of the Royal Medical Society |volume=82 ( |date=1989): |page=695.}}</ref><ref>{{REFjournal |last=Waugh |first=M.A., |last2=Spicer |first2=R.D ''. |title=&nbsp; |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine'' |volume=83. (April |date=1990): -04 |page=278.}}</ref> In 1991 Fink wrote another letter, claiming infants have no memory of painful events until age six months or older.<ref>{{REFjournal |last=Fink, |first=Aaron J. |author-link=Aaron J. "Fink |title=Circumcision and Sand." '' |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine'' |volume=84 (November |date=1991): -11 |page=696}}</ref> He died in 1994, but the campaign to link HIV infection to the foreskin continues to this day.