> you may still do it when you are 18, just parents should not be allowed to do it to you

You can read this in a positive light or a negative light. I know a guy who had that surgery done as an adult and it was incredibly painful and took a while to fully heal. I want to say it was almost a month. You could certainly argue that it's a lifetime of pain if it's done and you don't like it but that's likely a slippery slope in some regard.

I can agree that we should probably be doing a better job of explaining to parents the pros and cons of each so they make more informed, realistic choices but some of the outrage rhetoric around circumcision is a bit much.

Your friend had medical indication I guess? That's a whole other story, that's not "mutilation" but "the best in the given situation according to medical science".

Medical science is very clear about both male and female genital mutilation: lots of risk and potential harm, not real benefits.

And this does not grow back like nails and hair. It's not a fashion. It's literally putting a knife in your baby because some old culture prescribes it. No problem with that: just do it when the kid reaches the age of consent.

Don’t you think it hurts a child to cut their genitals? I’m ashamed it’s allowed in my country, and due to socialised health care I must fund it. It’s child abuse.

Exactly my sentiment. Tax paid child abuse. We should implore how this ever got this far, and fix the system to ensure this never happens again. As a result I've come to believe that religious freedom should have well enough protection by freedom of expression and freedom of association; and hence should be removed from constitutions and put into the regular code of law.

Freedom of religion may not constitutionally compete with bodily integrity (nor with freedom of expression (blasphemy)).