Male circumcision is an outmoded, harmful practice lacking any valid justification in law, medicine, ethics, and religion.
No rationale can excuse such starkly different protection of male and female children.
Attorneys for the Rights of the Child
ARC Mission
To secure equal protection for, and broaden public and legal recognition of, children’s legal and human rights to bodily integrity and self-determination that are violated by unnecessary genital cutting of male, female and intersex children.
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ARC Accomplishments
United Nations Project
We gave oral and written presentations putting the issue of male genital mutilation on the United Nations record for the first time…
Unofficially Winning Circumcision Debate with AAP Task Force Member
The Twentieth Pitts Lectureship in Medical Ethics, held on October 18-19, 2013, marked a debate regarding the ethics of male circumcision in which Steven Svoboda unofficially defeated Michael Brady, M.D., a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Task Force on Circumcision…
Recent Blog Posts
ARC Newsletter to be Published in November 2023
It is good to be back again after a relatively long period of radio silence! A lot of work has been going on behind the scenes. More announcements coming soon. Our latest newsletter, our 40th [...]
Journal Publishes Steven’s Article about Circumcision Decision-Making as a Parent and His Activism
We are pleased to report that on October 20, 2023, the journal Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics published Steven Svoboda's short article containing his thoughts about activism and its connections with his parental decision-making regarding circumcision [...]
Unabridged – Charleston Debate Marks Turning Point in Movement to Recognize Circumcision as a Human Rights Violation
The abridged version, originally published in November 2013, is available here. This unabridged version delves briefly into some issues that we didn’t want to publicly address at the time of the debate. Now, a [...]
Circumcision – Know Your Legal Rights
In this video – which was commissioned, arranged, and introduced by Attorney for the Rights of the Child’s (ARC’s) J. Steven Svoboda – ARC’s original board member David Llewellyn discusses circumcision and potential litigants’ legal rights. The following questions are answered:
- Who may bring about a circumcision-related lawsuit?
- What is “informed consent”?
- Who may be responsible for damages?
- What are the time limits?
- What sort of damages may be awarded?