Nurses for the Rights of the Child is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the rights of infants and children to bodily integrity. We seek to protect unconsenting infants and children from surgical alterations of their healthy genitals.

Nurses for the Rights of the Child was founded in June, 1995 by a group of nurses who had become R.N. Conscientious Objectors to infant circumcision at St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

NURSES FOR THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

answers requests for information by phone and mail. Our address is:

Our Work includes

• Empowering, supporting and advising other nurses who want to stop the socially-sanctioned genital mutilation of minors.
• Acting as human rights advocates for babies and children by informing and educating the public that the forced amputation of a healthy part of the genitals of an unconsenting infant or child, whether in the name of medicine, religion or social custom, is a human rights violation.
• Offering expectant parents information and prenatal classes on circumcision.
• Cooperating with others who are working in this country and abroad to promote the rights of children to bodily integrity.
• Promoting the human rights principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989.
• Promoting the principles of reproductive rights and sexual health of the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Cairo, 1994.

Position Statement on Infant Circumcision

• Circumcising a baby violates his right to keep his body normal and intact.
• There is no valid medical reason to circumcise a baby.
• Amputating a baby's foreskin robs him of uniquely specialized protective and erogenous tissue.
• Circumcision is a sexual mutilation.
• Like any other surgery, circumcision has risks, including excessive bleeding, infection, and even death.
• Few parents are aware of the harm caused by circumcision.
• The infant is unable at this vulnerable age to state his own wishes or to protect himself.

Interview by Sami Aldeeb, Doctor of Law

Saying No to Circumcision by Patricia Worth, R.N.

R.N. Conscientious Objectors to Infant Circumcision: A Model for Nurse Empowerment.by Betty Katz Sperlich, Mary Conant and Frederick Hodges.

Memorandum of Understanding for Circumcision Procedure

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989

Amnesty International: Nurses and Human Rights

Look at these hands by Mary Conant, R.N.

Facing Circumcision: Eight Physicians Tell Their Stories

Affiliate Organizations:

• NOCIRC
• NOHARMM
• NORM UK
• D.O.C.
• Attorneys for the Rights of the Child
• Circumcision Information and Resource Pages

Making a Donation or Becoming a Member

Contact Us!