Lawsuit seeking to ban circumcision, arguing it robs boys of bodily autonomy and gives parents 'nightmares,' gets thrown out by judge

An Oregon judge has rejected a lawsuit seeking to ban male circumcision in the Beaver State after plaintiffs argued that the procedure robs infant boys of bodily integrity and personal autonomy. The suit also accused the state of giving males fewer legal protections than females.

“Plaintiffs fail to point to the practical effect the decision will have on plaintiffs themselves, only some hypothetical male minors not before the court,” wrote Multnomah County Judge Melvin Oden-Orr in a summary judgment on Monday, according to The Oregonian. “Or that a decision of this Court will (undo) Plaintiffs’ circumcisions and/or any related stigma.”

Oden-Orr added, “No objectively reasonable juror could return a verdict in (the plaintiffs’) favor. … Therefore, the court finds they lack standing, there is no justiciable controversy and defendant is entitled to prevail as a matter of law.”

The plaintiffs included a mother who says she still has “nightmares about the ordeal” of watching her son undergo the procedure, and a man who claims his circumcision left him with a “circumferential scar” and problems with sensitivity and sexual performance.

“[The man] also suffers stigmatic harm because Oregon law treats female children as if they are more worthy of legal protection against genital cutting than male children like him,” the complaint said. “[The man] is aggrieved that the most sensitive part of his penis was cut off without medical need, and that Oregon law did not protect him despite protecting similarly-situated females from that result.”

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The young man said his parents told him he “bled profusely” after his circumcision and he “remained unaware of the existence and extent of harm done to him until he became a teenager,” according to the complaint.

Oden-Orr said he rejected the case Monday because the plaintiffs lacked standing and could not show Oregon directly harmed them, The Oregonian reports.

The plaintiffs argued that circumcision is a permanent genital alteration performed on children who cannot consent and that Oregon’s decision to criminalize female genital cutting while permitting male circumcision violates the state’s constitutional protections against sex discrimination.

The plaintiffs claimed every child has a right to bodily integrity and personal autonomy, which they said is violated when legal protection depends on a child’s sex.

“Every person also has a right to the equal protection of the law regardless of biological sex,” the complaint said.

Oregon law prohibits female genital mutilation and directs the state health authority to educate the public about its harmful consequences, according to the complaint. The plaintiffs argued that the state provides no equivalent protection against non-medically necessary genital cutting for boys. They also compared the law to Oregon’s rules on genital piercings.

“Oregon prohibits cosmetic body piercing of minors’ foreskins but permits the foreskin to be cut off completely,” the complaint said. “Under Oregon’s current regime, female children enjoy double protection against cosmetic genital alterations while male children only get nominal protection under these administrative rules.”

Oden-Orr’s ruling did not decide whether the plaintiffs’ underlying constitutional arguments about circumcision were valid. Eric Clopper, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said his clients intend to appeal.

“The important point is that the Court did not decide the merits of our constitutional challenge,” Clopper told The Oregonian. “The Court’s ruling should not be understood as an endorsement of circumcision or as a determination that boys are entitled to less protection. Those issues were simply not decided.”

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