What really pains me is that we have politicians and interest groups in this nation who support and defend this horrible procedure.
And what of the Hippocratic oath. I read this oath and can, in no way, understand how this procedure squares with the oath that all physicians take.
"You do solemnly swear, each man by whatever he holds most sacred
That you will be loyal to the Profession of Medicine and
That you will lead your lives and practice your art in uprightness and honor
That into whatsoever house you shall enter, it shall be for the good of the sick to the utmost of your power, you holding yourselves far aloof from wrong, from corruption, from the tempting of others to vice
That you will exercise your art solely for the cure of your patients, and will give no drug, perform no operation, for a criminal purpose, even if soliCited, far less suggest it
That whatsoever you shall see or hear of the lives of men which is not fitting to be spoken, you will keep inviolably secret
These things do you swear. Let each man bow the head in sign of acquiescence
And now, if you will be true to this, your oath, May prosperity and good repute be ever yours, the opposite, if you shall prove yourselves forsworn."