Entrepreneur and political newcomer Andrew Yang is finding new ways to stand out from the dozen or so other people who’ve officially announced they are running to be the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee.
Yang first attracted attention by calling for a universal basic income for all Americans. Now, he may be the first candidate to speak out against circumcision (or for it, for that matter).
Yang made his position known last week on Twitter and spoke against the practice even more strongly in an interview with The Daily Beast published Monday.
“From what I’ve seen, the evidence on it being a positive health choice for the infant is quite shaky,” Yang told the website, which noted he did not mention whether he himself is circumcised.
Yang said that if elected, he would make sure to “inform parents that it is entirely up to them whether their infant gets circumcised, and that there are costs and benefits either way.”
He added: “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.”
Yang has declared himself an ally of “intactivists,” the name used by people who believe circumcision is best left to adults who can make an informed decision for themselves.
Intactivists believe circumcision reduces the sensitivity of the penis, and that it’s not a parent’s place to perform body modifications on a child that might make sex less enjoyable later in life.
“I’m highly aligned with the intactivists,” Yang said, according to The Daily Beast. “History will prove them even more correct.”
Yang did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
For the record, in 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics declared that the health benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks, a conclusion that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also reached two years later.