The authoritarian attempt to outlaw circumcision in San Francisco—no religious exemptions allowed—stirred quite a hornet’s nest here at SHS when I first brought it up. Having paid attention to the comments, particularly those in support of the ban, I am more convinced than ever that opposition is ideological and not based on actual material harm to the baby and the man he become. Indeed, circumcision can be beneficial to health—even for a circumcised man’s sexual partners.
Diane Cole writes a first person account of this ancillary health benefit for the Wall Street Journal today. She has direct and painful experience in the matter. Her husband, a hemophiliac, died of AIDS—but she was never infected even though they spent some time after he acquired HIV from a blood transfusion, but before they knew he was positive, trying to get pregnant—meaning body fluids were definitely exchanged. He died in 1999, but she lives on uninfected, for which she credits her husband’s circumcision as an infant. From “Circumcision Saved My Life:”
