I could just say it was for religious and cultural reasons, but that would not do justice to the amount of discussion and worrying that went into the procedure. Ultimately, our ‘moyel’ was also a pediatric urologist, who’d operated on thousands of boys in his 35 years of medical practice. He was also on the committee that wrote the guidelines that seem to cause so much angst.

We sat in his office and I GRILLED him with questions. What were the risks? Were the benefits really real? Would my son feel pain? How long would it last? What about his psychological wellbeing? OMGod, am I messing him up for life? All those worries went through my head.

And then this doctor who had been practicing medicine longer than I’d been born, looked me in the eye and calmed all my fears. “I’ve done this surgery tens of thousands of times. Your son will be fine. There are many cultures that do this when a boy is much older, and they are always fine.”

Sure, one could argue that he’s a doctor, and a recognized moyel, so his bias would be towards circumcision. But that day, this man who knows more about this procedure than probably 99% of the population, spent close to an hour with me, clarifying all these concerns and more.

Bottom line: My son really is fine. And this is not a decision that belongs to government officials, anymore than terminating a pregnancy. It’s between the doctors and the patients, or in the case of circumcision, the parents.

I don’t regret not having my son circumsized when he was born, nor do I regret having it done when he was 4. I understand the pros and the cons, and firmly believe there are sound reasons on both sides of that coin.

I also don’t know if this medical fact is well known: A baby’s body starts to produce Vit. K on the 8th day after birth. Vit. K is necessary to the cotting of blood.