Alan: But our legal system also bars parents from physically
acting towards their children in various other ways. Parents may not beat
their children beyond a certain point. Parents may not excise their girls'
genitalia. Parents may not consent to their children's having sex before a
certain age (in some states, that age is 18), or participating in making
pornography. Parents may not consent to their children's working in various
jobs that impose even modest risk to health until a certain age. It's possible
that if parents wanted to change their children's appearance in a permanent and
material way, they wouldn't be allowed to do that (except in situations where
the appearance change is likely to be seen by outside observers as an
improvement). If parents wanted to bind their daughter's feet, I expect that
would be forbidden. And while the alternative in all these cases if for the
state to make the decision, that decision is generally "do not allow the
physical actions until the child is old enough to decide for himself or
herself" - a plausible conclusion, I think.
So the question, it seems to me, is whether male circumcision
should be treated more like, say, ear-piercing or teaching children some
philosophy or religion, ore more like all the other things I described above.
Eugene
Alan Brownstein writes:
While I think the autonomy argument isn't entirely frivolous, our legal system
allows parents to make so many choices for their children that substantially
impact their physical and mental health, personality, and appearance (without
being subject to challenge on the grounds that they have interfered with the
child's autonomy) that I don't assign a lot of weight to this interest. The
alternative, after all, to having parents make these decisions is for the state
to do so in their place.
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