(1) I'm not sure why A's interest in B's religion should give A the right to alter B's body - even if A is B's parent.
(2) As to "the sons' own interest in conforming to their religion," I don't think it's "their religion" at age 8 days, at least under what should be the secular legal system's understanding of religion (the subject's own belief system). Eugene From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Brian Landsberg Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2012 9:22 PM To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics Cc: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics Subject: Re: Equivocal evidence, and the right to choose Why consider only medical costs and benefits and ignore the parents' interest in the religious upbringing of their sons and the sons' own interest in conforming to their religion? As to harms, shouldn't the burden be on the proponent of banning the procedure? Sent from my iPhone On Jul 7, 2012, at 3:40 PM, "Volokh, Eugene" <vol...@law.ucla.edu<mailto:vol...@law.ucla.edu>> wrote: Part of the reason, I think, is that irreversible decisions should, when possible, be left to the adult that the child will become; and while lack of circumcision is painful to reverse in adulthood, it's possible, while circumcision is at the very least much harder to reverse effectively. Consider a few analogies. It's not unreasonable for adults to tattoo themselves; it's not my choice, but a substantial minority of people do it. Yet I think California law is right to bar all tattooing of minors, regardless of parental authorization - and it was even more correct when tattoos were very hard to reverse. It's true that this is a decision by the state, but it's a decision that increases the decisionmaking authority of the adult that the child will become. At the other extreme, it's not unreasonable for adults to get vasectomies or have their fallopian tubes tied - it's much rarer, especially in people who have no children at all, but it does happen. Indeed, it may have some benefits, because it decreases the risk of pregnancy; and it can even provide some benefit to a teenage minor. Plus if a child has especially serious genetic conditions, deciding on such a surgery may be especially plausible. But I take it that parents would generally not be allowed to order such a surgery on their children (setting aside exceptional circumstances, such as when a child is mentally retarded, sexually active, and likely to get pregnant without such surgery), again because that is a decision that should be made by the adult that the child will become. The same argument, I think, could be made about circumcision, depending on the evidence about medical costs and benefits (the case for allowing parents to decide becomes stronger when there are serious medical benefits) and on the evidence about whether circumcision indeed causes sufficient loss of sexual sensation. Eugene Brian Landsberg writes: In the case of a newborn the possible decision makers are the parents and the state. Why should we trust the state's judgment more than the parents' on an issue as to which reasonable minds can differ? _______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
_______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.