COPENHAGEN : 3 out of 4 Danes want a cutting age-restricted

Copenhagen Post
October 22, 2014

Danes want circumcision banned

75 percent want an end to the practice
by Christian Wenande
Three out of every four Danes want to ban the circumcision of boys, unless it's for medical reasons. AYouGov survey for Metroxpress newspaper revealed that 74 percent of the over 1,000 Danes asked want to completely or partially ban the circumcision of boys, while just 10 percent want the practice to remain legal.

“Circumcision is cutting a healthy part of the body from a boy,” Lena Nyhus, the founder of Intact Danmark, an association against the circumcision of children, told Metroxpress. “Denmark ought to be a pioneer when it comes to children's rights. We need an age limit of 18 years.”

On the political agenda
While it is illegal to circumcise girls in Denmark, about 1,000-2,000 Danish primarily Jewish and Muslim boys are circumcised every year. In comparison, about every second boy in the US is circumcised.

The only political parties that want it banned are Enhedslisten and Liberal Alliance, but the entire political sphere will discuss the issue today in parliament.

Danish health authorities have said that circumcision presents very little risk if done by the right doctors. From 2003-2010, the patient ombudsman Patientombudet registered only 20 cases involving complications associated with circumcision.