The Judiciary Committee of the Massachusetts legislature held a hearing on March 2 on a bill that would make any genital cutting of any minor illegal and criminal. A federal bill already protects females; the Massachusetts bill would protect males and hence ban circumcision as well.

18 proponents testified in favor of the bill, including an attorney from Intact America who said that her organization had filed supporting testimony (written material, videos, etc.) from 500 people!

3 people testified against, including 2 Jewish mothers who argued that circumcision was mandated by God. Two Jewish mothers argued against circumcision, one aggrieved that her son had been circumcised in a hospital without her consent. The other kept her son intact, recommends a peaceful birth ceremony for Jewish boys, and said that various Jewish organizations oppose it.

Forceful arguments were made that circumcision was introduced to cure diseases that it does not cure, that it is painful, traumatic, unnecessary surgery that no medical association in the world recommends, that many circumcisions are botched, that even if the surgery had health benefits, we do not remove other body parts that might later become diseased, and that sex is certainly different, and worse, without the highly sensitive foreskin that has evolved over 50 to 100 million years. Most proponents stated that every boy has a right, like girls, to genital integrity.

An attorney argued that circumcision is already illegal criminal assault, child abuse, and a human rights law violation, regardless of parental beliefs. In banning female genital cutting, Congress expressly found that it violates federal and state statutory and constitutional law, including the 14th amendment right to privacy and bodily integrity, and does not violate parents' constitutional rights (to freedom of religion). He argued that boys have the same constitutional rights as girls, and that the federal law is unconstitutional unless changed to be gender neutral.