NHS Scotland Funding Religious Violence Against Children’s Genitals

Coming on the heels of the news we reported last month (that the Crown Prosecution Service is preparing to recognize childhood circumcision as a crime), the National Health Service (NHS) Scotland is facing criticism for its continued use of public healthcare resources for non-medical, harmful acts of religious coercion inflicted upon the genitals of helpless children.

Of the four nations of the United Kingdom, only Scotland funds religious circumcision through the National Health Service.

Alejandro Sanchez of the National Secular Society, about whom we are always pleased to report and occasionally even to collaborate with, is extensively featured in this article in the Daily Record, the text of which we have copied below.

Scottish Government faces calls to end NHS cash spend on child circumcision
Mark McGivern
Mon, 9 February 2026

The Scottish Government is facing calls to immediately cut spending on the circumcision of boys for religious reasons.

The National Secular Society claims there is no justification for the cash-strapped Scottish NHS to fund such procedures, particularly given that they are not available elsewhere in the UK.

The body also claims that calls from within the NHS to scrap the non-therapeutic operations are being ignored.

National Secular Society human rights lead Dr Alejandro Sanchez said: “It is deeply disturbing that the Scottish Government is spending enormous sums of tax payer money to bankroll the ritual genital cutting of non-consenting children.

“At a time of straitened public finances, the Government must now come clean about the entire amount spent subsidising this human rights violation since it was first introduced on the NHS in 2008.”

“Ritual circumcision is medically unnecessary, deprives the child of an important erogenous tissue, and violates their independent right of freedom of religion or belief.”

He added: “NHS National Services Scotland is therefore absolutely right that this practice must no longer be funded on the Scottish NHS.

“Decisions about circumcision must be deferred until the individual is old enough to decide for himself, based on his own values.”

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed that one NHS Scotland paediatric centre was spending up to £300,000 per year on non-therapeutic male circumcision (NTMC).

Ritual circumcision is provided at four paediatric centres – Grampian, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lothian and Tayside.

The response by the Scottish Government also shows that NHS National Services Scotland has “made a request to cease funding of NTMC on the NHS in Scotland”.

Circumcising boys is considered a religious rite in some Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities. Scotland is the only UK nation that funds religious circumcision on its NHS.

The National Secular Society (NSS) has repeatedly called on the Scottish Government to end NHS funding for ritual circumcisions, on the grounds that performing dangerous, permanent and painful procedures on children without medical need violates their human rights.

Earlier this month, Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville warned of “hard choices” at the upcoming budget. Speaking about the NHS, she said: “we know we need to invest further.”

Internal emails from the Scottish Government revealed that an earlier report in the Daily Record – stating that Scotland is the only UK nation providing such ops on the NHS – had been greeted with scepticism.

One senior adviser stated: “That doesn’t seem right”.

A colleague responds: “Yes, as far as we are aware, this is not offered in England, Wales and NI [Northern Ireland]”.

The General Medical Council, which regulates doctors in the UK, dealt with 39 complaints regarding circumcisions between 2012 and 2022. The complaints include incidents in which children’s penises were left deformed and babies required blood transfusions.

The NSS argues that performing ritual circumcisions on the NHS is incompatible with the Government’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was incorporated into Scots Law in 2024.

Following a parliamentary question from Emma Roddick MSP in August, the Scottish Government said it “takes the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people very seriously “ and is “currently considering its guidance” on religious circumcision.

Polling shows the public overwhelmingly opposes medically unnecessary circumcision of boys.

The developments come as new draft guidance from England’s Crown Prosecution Service lists circumcision as a potential form of child abuse.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “NHS guidelines on how male circumcision should be performed have been in place since 2008 in Scotland to ensure procedures are carried out safely. Religious circumcision is carried out in one of the four Paediatric Centres by trained paediatric surgeons, under general anaesthesia, as part of a regulated NHS system.”