Studi recenti dimostrano che la circoncisione limita i rischi di infezione da AIDS: questo complica il dibattito medico/morale sul praticare la circoncisione ai bambini, in un paese come gli Stati Uniti in cui è già molto diffusa. Dal New York Times.

As one of the few countries where circumcision is widely practiced for non-religious reasons, the United States is an anomaly. Most European countries have largely abandoned routine neonatal circumcision; the British stopped doing it when they started the National Health Service in 1948. The service refused to cover the practice because it was deemed not medically necessary, and some Europeans will frankly say they find the idea barbaric and unnatural. Yet in the United States, circumcision is the norm, and the vast majority of men — and in all likelihood the majority of doctors — are circumcised, even though rates have dropped in recent years.