Circumcision Prevents Child Abduction

There are so many good health reasons to circumcise little boys that you don't really need to consider other reasons like religion, culture, family, and societal norms. But a lot of factors play into the growing support for universal male circumcision.

But this story provides one reason that I reject as an incentive to circumcise -- the prevention of child abduction. Turns out that in northern Uganda little boys are being abducted for child sacrifice. That's sick and a crime, and the perpetrators should be prosecuted. Parents in that region say that the abductors do not want circumcised boys (or those wearing earings), so more little boys are being circumcised to protect them from being abducted and killed.

Now I'm in favor of almost every reason you can conjure to circumcise males, but this one is totally unacceptable. Go after the criminals! Here's an excerpt from the story:

"Uganda: Circumcision, earrings deter child murder"

Wednesday, April 29, 2009
By IRIN

"More cases of child trafficking and abuse are being reported in the northern Ugandan districts of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader, according to officials. The region is mainly inhabited by an internally displaced population recovering from over a decade of war. . . . Recently, Uganda’s chief judge Benjamin Odoki urged the courts to pass tougher sentences for those involved in child abuse offenses. In the meantime, parents in the north have taken to circumcising their children and adorning them with earrings to deter would be perpetrators. "I hear that witchdoctors do not want circumcised children or those with earrings," Lukwayi Ayot, a local resident told IRIN. "I have decided to circumcise my two boys." Schools have embraced the practice too, said Ayot a local teacher. "We do not forbid any child from wearing earrings in school... to protect them."