At least two hospitals in Norway are breaking Norwegian law by refusing to help parents who wish to have their sons circumcised, a Norwegian paper revealed.
Stavanger University Hospital in the countryâs west and Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen are not cooperating on the non-medical circumcision of boys younger than three years, the Stavanger Aftenblad regional newspaper reported Monday.
The ban is in violation of Norwegian law, which requires public hospitals to offer ritual circumcision services either through their own facilities and staff or through a contractor, the newspaper reported.
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However, the hospitals told Aftenblad that their policy is part of their regional health departmentsâ guidelines. The report did not say when the hospitals adopted the ban policy.
For children older than three, Stavanger further requires a referral from a general practitioner or family doctor. The mandated referral also runs contrary to Norwayâs 2014 act on non-medical circumcision, which stipulates that the procedure must be performed under the supervision and in the presence of a licensed physician, but it may be physically carried out by other persons.
The Helse Nord medical group, which runs several clinics and hospitals, also requires referrals.
In Judaism, circumcision is performed on 8-day-old boys provided they are healthy. In Islam, the procedure typically occurs later in infancy.
Across Scandinavia, activists are promoting a ban on the non-medical male circumcision with the backing of liberals, who say the practices are cruel, and nationalists, who view them as a foreign import to predominantly Christian societies.
Maggi96 on July 13rd, 2018 at 10:12 UTC »
I was astonished when I researched about circumcisions recently and found out that america is the country with the most circumcisions. Apparently it is common consensus over there that it yields health benefits? which seems absurd to me but well. About 80+% of newborns get circumcised in america, which for me was just really surprising. I then digged some deeper and wanted to find out about these supposed health benefits but if anything the position is extremely undecided and ther seems to be no consensus and definitely no proof. And to circumcise nearly every kid out of an unproven statement seems to be quite wild. Not that I think it was bad to do it at some point in life, but you should not force it upon your baby and steal this decision from it. If it is convinced and wants to do it later it certainly can do so when it is old enough to make its own decisions.
pferdemann on July 13rd, 2018 at 09:33 UTC »
Good. That law needs to change.
dndvice on July 13rd, 2018 at 07:37 UTC »
One of the biggest shames for the EU is that circumcisions is not outright banned and persecuted as children mutilation, kudos for norwegians for standing up against this barbaric practice