CITIZENS AGAINST TAX FUNDING OF
MEDICALLY UNNECESSARY NON-THERAPEUTIC CIRCUMCISIONS

May 8, 2002

Dear Governor Easley and the North Carolina General Assembly:

As North Carolina healthcare professionals, parents, and taxpaying citizens, we are concerned that our state government continues to subsidize the outdated cultural practice of routine circumcision. Non-therapeutic circumcision is not recommended by any medical organization in the world, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Circumcision is not medically recommended because any purported potential or slight benefit of prophylactic circumcision is substantially outweighed by the inherent surgical risks, pain, disadvantages, complications, harm, and lifetime of function loss from circumcision.

North Carolina Medicaid wasted $1.8 million on non-therapeutic circumcisions in 2000. This nearly $2 million unwarranted expense per year should be directed towards providing for the necessary and urgent health care needs of our state's poor citizens, especially considering our current budget shortfall. Other state Medicaid programs and private insurance companies have eliminated this needless expense. It is time for North Carolina Medicaid to place the valid medical needs of our state's children ahead of endorsement and payment for a cultural tradition that offers no tangible health benefit to a child.

We join with friends and colleagues who feel that tax dollars should not be wasted on medically unnecessary procedures. Intact (not circumcised) boys are already in the majority in the West (65%), and practitioners in North Carolina report that an increasing number of parents are turning away from this painful tradition of the past and refusing this surgery for their newborns. The following Internet sites can provide you with valuable information about circumcision:

www.circumcision.org       www.nocircnc.org        www.cirp.org

We thank you for your prompt attention in eliminating tax funding of cultural, non-therapeutic circumcisions.

Sincerely,

Margaret and Yutaka Baba, Hillsborough
Kenneth Baker, M.D., F.A.C.O.G., Monroe
David Bate, M.D., Asheville
Christopher Baziuk, Yadkinville
Linda Baziuk, R.N., A.A.H.C.C., Yadkinville
Mark Baziuk, Yadkinville
Stanley Baziuk, Yadkinville
Carroll Beckham, Fayetteville
Monique Bell, Hickory
Portia and Jacyn Bergman, Indian Trail
Nama and Michael Best, Hillsborough
Lewis Bissell, M.D., Asheville
Geoffrey K. Bowman, M.D., F.R.C.S., Statesville
Denise Breheny, R.N., IBCLC, LCCE,
Mooresville
Becki Britt, C.B.E., Ft. Bragg/Fayetteville
Angie Brown, Elkin
Anna Brown, Matthews
Victoria L. Brown, B.S., IBCLC., CCE,
Walstonburg
Angela Calhoun, Concord
Robert Calhoun, Concord
Ellen Chetwynd, R.N., B.S.N., IBCLC, Pittsboro
Nancy Ciocci, L.C.S.W., I.C.C.E., CD, Carrboro
Annamarie Clark, Hudson
Josh Clark, Hudson
Brian and CodyJo Cosper, Statesville
Amber Craig, M.A., Chapel Hill
Jeffrey Craig, Chapel Hill
John and Meredith Cranfill, Charlotte
James and Betty Cronander, Wilmington
Susan Dart, Saluda
John Dixon, Statesville

Kristin Foltz, Arcadia
Helen Gardiner-Parks, Charlotte
Phelps Gates, Chapel Hill
Lisa Goldstein, C.P.M., C.N.M., Burnsville
Gabriel Goldstein, Burnsville
Eric Goldstein, Charlotte
Susan Hanson, L.P.N., Waxhaw
Jill Stubbs Herring, P.T., M.P.T., Mooresville
Ralph Herring, R.N., C.R.R.N., Mooresville
Chelo Jacob, Wilmington
Julia James, M.S.N., C.N.M, Charlotte
John Allen Jernigan, Dunn
Bevin Jett, Charlotte
Grant D. Jones, Ph.D., Davidson
Cynthia F Joyner, Concord
Rusty and Lori Joyner, Concord
Kathy and Mark Kemerait, Bostic
Karin Keogh, Mooresville
Melody and Marcus Kearns, Morganton
Peter Krones, Ph.D., Monroe
William Krueger, Winston-Salem
Anne Lamkin, Hillsborough
Scott and Donna Larkin, Statesville
Jennifer Leitch, A.A.H.C.C., Charlotte
Ken Leitch, Charlotte
Keith and Beth Long, Charlotte
Leslie Martin, M.S., Chapel Hill
Laurin McCarley, Gastonia
Leah Schroeder McGraw, M.A., Fayetteville
Heyward and Gilda McKinney, Raleigh
Claire Miller, L.B.M.T., Chapel Hill
Marcus and Diana Miller, Statesville
David Mouw, M.D., Asheville

Barbara Navarro, C.N.M., Charlotte
Robert Oliver, M.D., Sylva
John Paulson, Yadkinville
Ben Pernia, Charlotte
Wade H. Ponder, B.S., M.S., Raleigh
Lori Rankin, L.M.B.T., Durham
Katherine and Dean Reganess, Mooresville
Angela Reid, M.A., Raleigh
Reita Reid, C.P.M., Statesville
Kathleen Rogers, Ph.D., Chapel Hill
Tim Shane, Morganton
Kay Simonson, Gastonia
Brian Small, Hillsborough
Harmon L. Smith, Ph.D., Durham
Leah Spencer, M.S., Pittsboro
Amy Stapleford, M.Ed., L.M.B.T., Durham
William S. Stewart, J.D., Chapel Hill
Mark and Karen Valcourt, Hickory
Kong Vue, Statesville
John and Evelyn Walker, Charlotte
Keith and Alice Webb, Farmville
Robert Weeks, Bahama
Marie and Carl Weiglieb, Troutman
Virginia Welford, M.S., Hillsborough
Jeffrey L. Wells, B.A., L.M.B.T., Hillsborough
Kristie A.S. Wells, Hillsborough
Laura White, M.S., Bahama
Deb Wood, Raleigh
Alvin D. Woody, R.Ph., Mooresville
Dee York, Charlotte

This letter was funded by the concerned
taxpaying North Carolina citizens listed above