SPECIAL: Circumcision: A Human Rights &Gender Equity Problem

The Voice of Change welcomes Georganne Chapin, executive director of IntactAmerica.org to the program today.  She will discuss how routine infant male circumcision constitutes a human rights violation on a massive scale, asking how we as a culture can condemn female genital mutilation, while continuing to embrace the cosmetic, medically unnecessary cutting of baby boys’ genitals.

Georganne Chapin is the founding executive director of Intact America, an organization that is changing the way Americans think about circumcision. Expectant parents find a true ally in Chapin, who supplies accurate health information through Intact America's website and fights for children by demanding that public health officials reveal the truth about this needless surgery. Her "Circumcision Debate" article, published in Hudson Valley Parent magazine, highlights her dedication to the intactivist cause. She also writes frequently about the issue on Intact America's blog.

Chapin writes and presents widely in the U.S. and abroad on bioethics and health care reform. She is frequently quoted in the press, and has appeared on national and local television and radio. She earned her B.A. in Anthropology from Barnard College, her M.A. and M.Phil. degrees in Sociomedical Sciences from Columbia University, and a J.D., cum laude, with certificates in Health Law and International Law from Pace University School of Law. She has taught as an adjunct professor of law at Pace.