The right of infant’s body integrity and intactivism has never been fairly covered by NPR, and this article is no exception. Intaction.org is mentioned in an article dated March 30, 2011 by NPR reporter Christopher Weaver covering states attempts to reduce the cost of Medicaid programs.

Weaver characterizes our members efforts as attempting “to capitalize on states dire Medicaid shortfalls.” Weaver and  NPR paints intactivists as supporters of “zany measures” that seemingly attempt to take advantage of New York State’s red ink.

Of course NPR sidesteps the whole issue of genital integrity and human rights. The fact that state governments actually fund needless cosmetic surgery is also not mentioned.

The only thing “zany” is how we as a society permit doctors to strap infant boys to a restraining board and amputate a significant portion of a boy’s genitals.

NPR STORY: HARD TIMES PROMPT CALLS FOR ZANY MEASURES

“When New York’s Medicaid director asked the public for money-saving ideas, the most popular suggestion, as measured by the sheer volume of emails, left him a bit red-faced: End payments for routine circumcisions.

Though the idea didn’t make the cut for New York’s latest cost-curbing plan, it’s just one example of how interest groups, such as the anti-circumcision group Intaction.org, businesses and other policy proponents are pushing to capitalize on states’ dire Medicaid shortfalls.

“At budget time, you’ve got many organizations coming in talking about how their product could save us millions or billions,” said Deborah Bachrach, who directed New York’s Medicaid program and now works for Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, a law firm. “Sometimes there were good ideas there, other times there weren’t.”

Read the complete article here.