FRANK'S FUND: A Legal Assistance Fund For Circumcision Related Issues

About Your Beliefs

If you have arrived at this page and believe that there are any benefits to infant male circumcision or that it is your right as a parent to impose this surgery on your child, you have not gained sufficient information to totally understand the issue. I recommend that you continue your educational process as the information contained here may be disturbing.

About Circumcision

Routine circumcision of infant males is a uniquely American practice. It started in the 1870's with the purposeful intent to reduce the sexuality of it's victim to reduce the instinct to masturbate. It is now known that the manipulations that male children perform to their genitalia is instinctual and a method to loosen the prepuce which is firmly adhered to the glans at birth, much as the fingernails are adhered to the nail beds. It is now known that circumcision does not reduce masturbation but instead, increases the urge to perform it by about 40%. Since then circumcision has been touted to prevent or cure a long list of maladies, all of them patently false. Now the medical profession endorses this sexually crippling procedure as a cultural practice. It is the only surgical procedure that a physician will perform that is contrary to all current medical science and is the only one that will be performed merely at the request of parents on a non defective part of the body of an infant.

Whose Rights?

Parents argue it is their right to have this crippling surgery performed on their sons. The medical profession endorses this belief through it's continued practice of the procedure. Ultimately, the right is that of the person who will have to live his entire life in that modified body. There is no urgency or benefit that this procedure should be done at birth. If the adult man wants this for himself, the procedure is quick, requiring an in office procedure taking about 30 minutes. It is far safer for an adult. There is no record of an adult man dieing from a circumcision. There are many cases of infants dieing from the procedure. There should be no pain for the adult and there is extreme pain from the infant procedure because infants are extremely sensitive to anesthesia and can not be given adequate amounts to make the procedure pain free. Adults can be given pain management medication and infants never are and suffer pain for 10 days to 2 weeks. The recovery period for adult circumcision is very quick. Adult circumcision is elective at the request of the man but the infant has no say in the matter. For a parent to say they have the right to authorize a procedure that contradicts every medical association in the world, has no benefit and in fact causes harm and has no immediacy, proves that the parent and the medical profession have no understanding of the issues and harm. Studies have shown that 20% of circumcised men would not choose it for themselves and only 3% of intact men will choose circumcision as an elective procedure. With the cultural pressure absent, only a fraction of a percentage of intact men would actually undergo the procedure. Circumcision is clearly against the wishes of most men.

How Do We Get The Message Across?

The internet has made great strides in presenting parents with truthful information. However, with almost 400 million people to educate, any effort has dubious effect and will take many years. A physician endorses it merely by asking a parent if they want the procedure. Any comment about possible benefits, no matter how questionable and rare is a further endorsement. Since there is excellent communication in the medical community through associations and malpractice insurers, a few well orchestrated and placed legal actions will receive tremendous attention and will act as an educational process for the entire industry. This will be the most effective and quickest acting action possible while negatively affecting the fewest number of lives. When England's public health system stopped paying for circumcisions, the practice quickly faded. This will have the same effect.

Circumcision And The Law

There are various laws that protect every American but these laws often are not properly applied and must be challenged in the courts for all individuals to enjoy their protections. Women, minorities and religious groups have had to challenge the application of these laws in the courts to get equal rights or protections of these laws. Circumcision is the only surgical procedure that is allowed to remove or modify perfectly formed and normal structures from the body of an infant for non beneficial reasons. Any other cosmetic or elective procedure is ethically reserved until the individual can give consent. Infant males can not give consent and these protective laws will be challenged in court for equal application to males as well as females. The amputation of a normal body part with out consent is assault and battery. Protection from assault and battery will be challenged. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution Of The United States is known as the Civil Rights Amendment. The last sentence in this amendment is called the "Equal Protection Clause" and gives equal protection of all classes of citizens to any law passed in the United States. In 1996, the Congress of the United States passed the law commonly known as the "Female Genital Mutilation Law" that protects all minor females from unnecessary genital surgical modification. That males should be included under this law under the Equal Protection Clause will be asserted in the courts. It will be a civil rights issue and should it be upheld by the courts, it will be a felony violation to perform a non medically indicated circumcision on a minor male. Violation of the law will result in monetary damages and possibly prison time. When this happens, it will become as difficult to have a circumcision preformed on a male as it now is for a female.

What Is Frank's Fund?

Statute of Limitation Laws routinely limit the window for pursuing a circumcision case to three years for the parents and three years from the 18th birthday for the victim. Many young parents do not have the funds to pursue one of these cases and almost none of the 18 year old men are able. Frank's Fund is to change this by providing the funds for these people to pursue their cases on a revolving basis. Money advanced is in the form of a loan. The loan is forgiven for cases not won. If the courts award damages, the plaintiff repays the loan plus a percentage of the award. This money then revolves to the next case. The benefactor and founder of this fund increases each donation by a matching amount of 50%. The intent of the fund is to get the attention of circumcisers and their medical malpractice insurers. A few well placed suits will achieve this goal whether the suits are won or lost. When medical malpractice insurance no longer covers the surgeon, the surgeon will no longer provide the service and that's the end of infant male circumcision in America.

How Do I Support Frank's Fund?

Donations are received and administered by The National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers, Inc. (www.nocirc.org):

NOCIRC
P.O. Box 2512
San Anselmo, CA   94979-2512

NOCIRC is a registered nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible. The benefactor and founder of this fund has no connection to NOCIRC and receives none of the funds. Please mark your donation "Frank's Fund" for proper application.

Thank you for your support.

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