Circumcision Is A Major Issue For One 2020 Presidential Candidate
Andrew Yang
Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang revealed he’s against circumcision, and if elected, he would include that view into public policy.
In a tweet that fell under-the-radar, Yang said that he was against the practice of cutting a newborn’s foreskin, which is often done for religious purposes. He doubled down in an interview with The Daily Beast, in which he said that his agenda would include reassuring parents that circumcision isn’t necessary for infants’ health. He called the ritual a “cultural onus.”
Against the practice.
— Andrew Yang (@AndrewYangVFA) March 13, 2019
“It’s sort of pushed on parents in many situations,” Yang said.
Yang might be the first ever presidential candidate to take a public stance on circumcision, according to The Daily Beast. An entrepreneur, he supports dozens of other policies and is running on a platform of universal basic income. He’s now hoping to appeal to circumcision opponents, known as “intactivists” (meaning those who choose to keep penises intact).
“I’m highly aligned with the intactivists,” Yang said. “History will prove them even more correct.”
Yang told The Daily Beast that he initially planned to have his sons circumcised so they wouldn’t feel self-conscious, but his wife didn’t share his sentiment. He said that he hopes to encourage parents not to feel pressured into circumcising their baby boys.
“From what I’ve seen, the evidence on it being a positive health choice for the infant is quite shaky,” said Yang. He did not share whether he was circumcised.
Alyssa Fisher is a writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
