Circumcision Policy Statement

Policy Statement

Systematic evaluation of English-language peer-reviewed literature from 1995 through 2010 indicates that preventive health benefits of elective circumcision of male newborns outweigh the risks of the procedure. Benefits include significant reductions in the risk of urinary tract infection in the first year of life and, subsequently, in the risk of heterosexual acquisition of HIV and the transmission of other sexually transmitted infections.

The procedure is well tolerated when performed by trained professionals under sterile conditions with appropriate pain management. Complications are infrequent; most are minor, and severe complications are rare. Male circumcision performed during the newborn period has considerably lower complication rates than when performed later in life.

Although health benefits are not great enough to recommend routine circumcision for all male newborns, the benefits of circumcision are sufficient to justify access to this procedure for families choosing it and to warrant third-party payment for circumcision of male newborns. It is important that clinicians routinely inform parents of the health benefits and risks of male newborn circumcision in an unbiased and accurate manner.

Parents ultimately should decide whether circumcision is in the best interests of their male child. They will need to weigh medical information in the context of their own religious, ethical, and cultural beliefs and practices. The medical benefits alone may not outweigh these other considerations for individual families.

Findings from the systematic evaluation are available in the accompanying technical report. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has endorsed this statement.

Task Force on Circumcision

Susan Blank, MD, MPH, Chairperson

Michael Brady, MD, Representing the AAP Committee on Pediatrics AIDS

Ellen Buerk, MD, Representing the AAP Board of Directors

Waldemar Carlo, MD, Representing the AAP Committee on Fetus and Newborn

Douglas Diekema, MD, MPH, Representing the AAP Committee on Bioethics

Andrew Freedman, MD, Representing the AAP Section on Urology

Lynne Maxwell, MD, Representing the AAP Section on Anesthesiology

Steven Wegner, MD, JD, Representing the AAP Committee on Child Health Financing

Liaisons

Charles LeBaron, MD – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Lesley Atwood, MD – American Academy of Family Physicians

Sabrina Craigo, MD – American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Consultants

Susan K. Flinn, MA – Medical Writer

Esther C. Janowsky, MD, PhD

Staff

Edward P. Zimmerman, MS