“Neuter your ex” campaigns popped up across the country this year, from Maryland to Michigan to Washington state. Getting back at an ex can now mean neutering or spaying a cat because “some things shouldn’t breed,” as one New Jersey animal shelter put it.
But it’s not. I said parents have the obligation to decide what surgeries their children need.
For example with tonsilitis, a parent could agree to a tonsillectomy or choose to treat symptoms until they can decide for themselves. Or on another end of the spectrum, allow or disallow gender affirming surgeries before they’re of legal age.
What’s the essential difference between those and FGM? And anyway, I disagree that a parent should even have that power. Medical decisions should be left to doctors, parents shouldn’t have the power to jeopardise their own children’s health.
Those are medical procedures. FGM is entirely elective and serves no practical purpose, aside from religious nonsense.
And medical decisions should absolutely not be left to doctors, that opens up a ton of ethical issues. Doctors, however, shouldn’t be allowed (and certainly not required) to perform an unethical medical procedure.