Choose well, your legacy, Dr. Susan Blank -- American Academy of Pediatrics task force on Circumcision

From INTACT AMERICA:

The AAP is actively considering whether they should recommend circumcision.

Make sure they hear our side of the debate!

Send a message to Susan Blank, chair of the circumcision task force, today.

"Very compelling."

That's how Susan Blank – who chairs the American Academy of Pediatricians' task force on circumcision – described studies of adult males in sub-Saharan Africa that suggest circumcision reduces the risk of HIV transmission.

Well, here's what we think is very compelling: circumcising babies is wrong – ethically, morally, and medically. It's shocking to think Dr. Blank and her task force are considering policy recommendations for baby boys in the United States based on misconstrued data from controversial African studies.

Send a message directly to Dr. Blank today and urge the AAP task force not to recommend circumcision. http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5922/t/6483/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=2318

Here's my letter:

Dear Dr. Susan Blank and American Academy of Pediatrics,

The human baby feels and remembers everything that he or she experiences in the womb, in labor and at birth, and in the first seconds, minutes, and hours of life. The prenate feels, tastes, hears, and responds to the environment - via the mother. The human being is in a continuum of NEVER-ending brain development from conception forward, and the primal period is the foundation for the rest of life.

It is logical and scientific that during the birth process the newborn brain is not somehow miraculously selective, thus being capable of "turning off" during time in the hospital with medical caregivers and interventions. There is no mechanism that allows that -- so that medical people can do whatever they wish to a baby. The human newborn is not capable of "de-selecting" the violations of medical caregivers on his personhood. The science is clear: Your own science tells us "what fires wires" so we know the birthing and newborn brain "wires what fires" and learns, even more so outside the womb than she or he did prenatally. The newborn baby is an aware, feeling being - a fully sentient being - and the brain IS "on" while in your hands in your institution. We/You can no longer say: "the baby won't remember" and "the baby won't feel it". Circumcision is just one of the medical interventions experienced by newborns in your hands.

Circumcision is the worst human rights violation of mankind, done by mankind to mankind, wherever it is inflicted upon on a non-consenting uninformed baby, child, or third world country. The American Academy of Pediatrics is being called upon to protect and defend our babies, and to be protectors of the human rights of newborns in our society. As a society we will look back on this action against males, and we we see how it is the primary cause of violence of all kinds, but especially against women and children. We will see how "we" plundered the world's people because of it. People will wonder how we could have been so barbaric at this point in history in our human evolution. Your name will be there, Dr. Susan Blank ... either as the person who helped stop the routine, barbaric, torture of NON-CONSENTING, UNINFORMED baby boys, or the one who pushed for it; the one too blind, too bought to see the impact to every aspect of a male's life and to our society, and to our planet.

Choose well, your legacy, Dr. Susan Blank.

I am a birth trauma therapist, baby advocate, and filmmaker doing a birth film for and about fathers in birth. Part four of my film will address the impact of circumcision on the male baby disconnected from his mother, unprotected, and so unspeakably violated ... for no medical reason ... and how this plays out his entire life, including family and child abuse, sexual assault, violence, and war. On my radio show this fall I have done a series with guests who are advocates of intact males; they are doctors, psychologists, midwives, and therapists in a series this fall. I have come to believe that circumcision of our baby males is the most barbaric act of humanity. It is outrageous that female genital mutilation is seen as such, while male babies in our culture are tortured, and these tortured males lead us to war after war, while porn is number one money maker, and pedophiles are a number one concern for communities and parents. Circumcision is torture Dr. Blank, and from what I have learned there is no medical reason to do it, only political and financial gains. The research in Africa is inconclusive and even shows no decrease in AIDS for these men, while AIDS has risen for women.

I have one circumcised son, age 34, and one intact son, age 27. I was holding my son when he was circumcised. It was horrible and shocking, and I couldn't stop it. I had assumed that what I was told to be done next was humane and science based. Now, we do know that it is not. It was tragic to learn later there is no reason for it, and more tragic, as a mother, to learn the resulting outcomes for him that he has to live his whole life with. For example, the violation of the body part responsible for creating pleasure results in a lifetime of dysfunctions in sexual functioning, from minor, like premature ejaculation, excessive masturbation, and being unaware of one's partner's needs (rough because he doesn't have the part of his penis meant to communicate to his brain about pleasure), for which we now have industry after industry to "fix" to the violent crimes against women, children, and society. Men do not know what it is they are missing, and depending on other aspects of their early life and violations, to varying degrees, they go after what is missing with a vengeance; and, Dr. Blank, they go after women and children. This one act against male babies/men provides multiple industries to this country and fuels war.

I am grateful that I became aware of alternative methods of emotional and physical healing, besides the ineffective talk and drug therapy that dominates our society. I could begin to support my son to heal his soul, an apology from the one who allowed it instead of protecting him begins the healing, and he can now choose to even restore his foreskin. Even so, as a mother, I suspect I will never get over the brutality and loss that I allowed my son to experience for no reason. We know now many modalities for healing those who have been harmed, but these modalities are also diminished and vilified by your profession, after promoting the violation, for financial reasons. To embrace the healing of the trauma one has to see the violation inflicted upon helpless newborn babies.

I guarantee you the American people are wising up, and rising up, and they will continue to become a majority against circumcision. Three cultures circumcise their male children: Christian, Jewish, and Muslim. You figure it out. Do the research outside your status quo of medicine funded by drug companies, about the real reasons your professional group struggles to promote what it knows is true one minute and then is promoting the opposite again the next. Your profession has a responsibility to tell and BE the truth, and to stop the torture of our male babies. EVERYWHERE.

Again, Circumcision is the worst human rights violation of mankind done by mankind to mankind, wherever it is inflicted upon on a non-consenting uninformed baby, child, or third world country. As a society we will look back on this action against males, and we we see how it is the primary cause of violence of all kinds, but especially against women and children, and how we plundered the world's people because of it. People will wonder how we could have been so barbaric at this point in history in our human evolution. Your name will be there, Dr. Susan Blank ... either as the person who helped stop the routine, barbaric, torture of NON-CONSENTING, UNINFORMED baby boys, or the one pushed for it; the one too blind, too bought to see the impact to every aspect of a male's life and to our society, and to our planet.

Choose well, your legacy, Dr. Blank.

L. Janel Martin Miranda, MA
Columbia, MO
573-424-0997
www.theothersideoftheglass.com
www.thoughtcrimeradio.blogspot.com -- you can listen to podcasts of many professionals from many areas speaking about the impact of circumcision.

I agree with Intact America:

Your statement to ABC News that recent African studies of male circumcision are "very compelling" suggests that the American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on Neonatal Circumcision may ignore the ethics, risks and harms of performing medically unnecessary surgery on non-consenting infant boys.

As chair of the task force, please respond to the following questions regarding your upcoming decision:

- How will the task force address the ethical problems related to performing medically unnecessary circumcision surgery on non-consenting newborn males?

- How is the task force taking into account the risks and harms of circumcision?

- Aren't circumcision trials conducted on consenting adults irrelevant to circumcising baby boys who cannot consent?

I look forward to your prompt response.

Sincerely,

Women and Babies in a Disaster Situation

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Mum forced into home birth after floods cut off road
Thursday, February 12, 2009, 08:22


WATER baby Charlie Beattie made a memorable arrival into the world when floods meant his mum could not make it to hospital for his birth.

Debbie Beattie went into labour on Tuesday morning, but she and husband Russell, along with three-year-old daughter Lauren, found the roads out from their home in Rayne were blocked by floods and they could not get to William Julien Courtauld Hospital (WJC) in Braintree.

They had to turn back home and two emergency care practitioners, Steve Colmer and Steve Monk, from the ambulance service, who had fought their way through the flood water, made it there just in time to deliver Charlie.

He was born at four minutes past eight and weighed in at a healthy 8lb 13oz.
Proud dad Russell said: "We set out at 7.30 in the morning and found that the road from Rayne to Braintree was about 4ft under water and the alternative route out of the village had flood water 2ft deep.

Continue at UK Mum forced to do homebirth because of flooding

This and many other new reports continue to fuel my concerns for pregnant and birthing women and babies who will inevitably be caught up in situations that do not allow them access to the hospital, and/or in many states, including Missouri, ACCESS to a midwife. As the Columbia, MO community prepared for disaster possibilities, I was at a forum in June of 2007 and repeatedly asked every representative from the mult-organization team about the plight of women in MO. At that time, it was a felony for a midwife to practice in MO. All women in MO did not have the option to choose midwifery, and this meant that many women in the rural areas (most of MO) were forced to accept the choice of driving hours to give birth.

At this meeting, all day long, I continued to asked the representatives of the Red Cross, the Fire District, the city, all the members of the diaster readiness teams,

"What about the pregnant and birthing women, and women with infants?"
"What if the hospital is unable to accept patients because it is destroyed, or quaranteened?"
"What if a laboring woman can not make it to the hospital? This happens now in an ice or snow storm now?"

And, I point out that in other industrialized nations, including the UK, midwives work WITH doctors and nurses in partnership. Their government and hospitals accept and promote midwifery care. There, a woman has a societial learning and knowing that birth outside of a hospital without a doctor anywhere near by is doable and even preferrable. So, when a diaster happens she IS ABLE to do it without the ingrained fears and beliefs that American women have. But, my question, "What are you doing in this area?" receives only uhmms, ahhhh, or "that is question for so-and-so who is on next panel."

All day long people just looked at me, some dumbfounded, some annoyed ... Midwifery was still illegal at that time and the social and political battleground was very bloody at that time. The only possible options given were that emergency workers or medical staff would have to be called. MY QUESTION, "Is this being considered -- is a plan for pregnant and laboring and birthing women being developed?'

"Ahhhh, uhhhmmm."

For some very strange reason, the dire needs of the pregnant, laboring and birthing woman and her baby during a disaster have not even been considered. I blows me away everytime I think about it, and everytime I think about that day of asking different people, experts in preparing for disaster and protecting us, about pregnant and birthing women and babies needs during a diaster. I am sure it is the same in most places. Every community, big and small, needs an elaborate system in place to care for these most vulnerable of people in a diaster. Is there a "committee" just to look at this need -- from another perspective OTHER than the medical perspective and what they can do and need? Is there a plan in place, with a team on board, of midwives, doulas, and nurses and doctors who will GO TO the woman? Why is this not a high agenda for the Red Cross?

HOMEFIRST in Chicago is a good model to begin to see what is needed.

For the Safe Baby Resolution, which I co-wrote with Star Newland and was introduced in Hawaii Legislature in 2007, I wrote a broad document of questions for legislators everywhere:

Legislative Research Study Questions
by Janel Martin-Miranda, MA, LPC,

The Safe Baby Resolution team asks our state legislators to form a Safe Baby Commission to be comprised of representatives from birthing women, doulas, midwives, physicians, therapists, psychologists, teachers, clergy, attorneys, representatives from women’s and children’s group (i.e., Shaken Baby, Domestic Violence, March of Dimes, Drug Prevention) and a legislative liaison to consider how to answer the following questions.


We are asking the state legislators to assign the commission (or appropriate department, such as Maternal Health and Child Wellness) with the objectives:

- Gather and study the current science that supports the resolution,

- Facilitate multi-disciplinary collaboration,

- Determine the feasibility of launching a major research project to look for long-term solutions, and

- Report the findings of the resolution study at the next legislative session


Number Five addresses homeland diaster preparedness and need to provide for pregnant and laboring women:


5. Homeland Disaster Preparedness – Include a plan for Pregnant, Laboring and Birthing Women, and Infants. How is the Missouri Home Land Security disaster plan prepared to care for pregnant and birthing women in MO in the event of a disaster? Currently, the practice of direct-entry midwifery is against the law in MO, and the CNM must be backed by a physician; therefore, out-of-hospital birth is rare and socially feared. In the event of a disaster hospitals will be focused on trauma patients and/or may be quarantined, and there will be zero options in Missouri for safe and quality care for pregnant and birthing women and babies outside of the hospital. What will they do?

I hope every community will look at this and make provisions for the most vulnerable during a disaster -- pregnant women and laboring and birthing women and babies. I find it interesting in the stories coming out of the recent weather and bridge situation in UK. When a woman can not get to the hospital there is not a collective panic. Women there know they can give birth outside of a hospital.
What what about this stupid, "Shoe lace" thing to tie off the cord? One report was father was struggling to get his shoe lace off!?!? As I prepare the research and father's voices for my film, I am just appalled ... WHY IS THE MEDICAL COMMUNITY STILL PROMOTING THIS!?!? The baby needs to stay attached to the mother. The BABY NEEDS his or her CORD BLOOD. The mother's body and the PLACENTA ARE the RESUSCITATOR. The BABY's physiology WORKS and will clamp the cord. THE FATHER NEEDS TO BE CONNECTING WITH HIS BABY, NOT SEPARATING him or her PREMATURELY from the mother. There is NO MEDICAL REASON to clamp the cord! #*$ &$& )$)__$&#^$*

From the UK article:
"We stayed at the scene for a couple of hours and worked together with the midwife to carry out full health checks, making sure both mum and baby were stable.

"Fortunately they didn't need to go to hospital and the family, including the proud older sister, were able to stay at home, allowing the new addition to settle in comfortably."

NOTE the MENTAL and EMOTIONAL difference? NO way in H-ll, would that happen in America -- leaving the mother and baby in the sanctity of their own home, after being assessed by the medical team on site. In America NO ONE can be born with out the interrogation of the multiple teams of nurses and doctors. Don't we all know the babies who were born at home only to be whisked away for hours and days of intrusive, violating, painful "tests" by strangers and separation from mother?

Now, that I've blown off some steam, back to work on the film ....