Politics

Yang Takes Firm Stance Against Circumcision

(Photo by JOSHUA LOTT/AFP/Getty Images)

Mike Brest Reporter
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Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang came out against circumcision earlier this week.

Yang first stated his stance on the procedure nearly a week ago on Twitter, when a Twitter user asked him about his feelings on “routine infant circumcision,” to which he answered, “Negative on it.”

“It’s sort of pushed on parents in many situations,” he said to the Daily Beast in an interview published on Monday. “From what I’ve seen, the evidence on it being a positive health choice for the infant is quite shaky.”

Yang wants to “inform parents that it is entirely up to them whether their infant gets circumcised, and that there are costs and benefits either way,” adding that, “The more choice we give parents, and the more we diminish the possible preconceptions or misinformation various parents are receiving, then the better off we’ll be as a society.”

(JOSHUA LOTT/AFP/Getty Images)

Entrepreneur and 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang speaks during a campaign stop at the train depot on February 1, 2019 in Jefferson, Iowa. (JOSHUA LOTT/AFP/Getty Images)

Both the Jewish and Muslim faiths call for boys to be circumcised. Jewish baby boys undergo the procedure on the eighth day after birth in a ceremony called a “bris.”

“The bris is a physical symbol of the relationship between G‑d and the Jewish people. It is a constant reminder of what the Jewish mission entails (a reminder which men need more than women),” according to Chabad.org.

The Quran does not specifically mention circumcision but the term to describe the procedure is called a “khitan.”

Aside from coming out against circumcision, Yang is campaigning on providing everyone with a $12,000 universal basic income (UBI) in the form of a $1,000 monthly cash payment, which he calls a “freedom dividend.” (RELATED: Andrew Yang Qualifies For First Democratic Debate)

Yang qualified for the first Democratic debate after receiving donations from at least 65,000 individual donors.

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