As previously reported in February, the New Hampshire House of Representatives narrowly approved a bill to remove Medicaid funding for newborn circumcision and sent the bill to the Senate. On April 9, however, the bill failed in the Senate Health Committee, primarily due to religiously-motivated objectors. Prior to the vote, a letter was sent to the state Senators on the Committee urging them to pass the bill. The letter was co-signed by GALDEF and 17 other individuals and organizations. You can read the letter here.

This lobbying effort was coordinated by Intaction/Health Equality Campaign. After the vote, a principal lobbyist for the bill issued the following message to the signatories of the letter.

Attorney Peter Adler spoke very well about financial/legal aspects of the legislation to remove Medicaid funding for newborn circumcision, and a hard copy of our letter was distributed to the five members of the Senate Health Committee prior to Peter speaking. Unfortunately we had a setback when the bill failed on a unanimous vote.

The most outspoken opposition to the bill came from older Jewish Senators, with comments such as “Jews will not feel welcome in New Hampshire if this passes,” or “With all the antisemitism in the U.S. these days, this will only add to it,” and “This will be like a sign on the highway that Jews are not welcome.”

The Deputy Committee Chair was overheard discussing with the Committee Chairman that “Jesus was circumcised,” and “In WWII the Nazis pulled down trousers looking for Jews”  and other examples exist of the State paying for religious practices “in education or a hospital with a religious affiliation”, or that it pays for other elective healthcare like dental or vision.

Ironically, HB94 excluded religious circumcision. Additionally, hospital/medical circumcisions are not accepted by most observant Jews as being religiously valid, and (non-medical) mohels are not paid by Medicaid. It was also brought up to the Senators that Jews have not been adversely impacted in the 17 other U.S. states and Canada where public insurance funding has been withdrawn. These points seemed to fall on deaf ears.

Some Senators made references to the now-expired 2012 American Academy of Pediatrics circumcision statement. When others claimed that Florida experienced increased health costs after Medicaid defunding, that claim was refuted with evidence that Florida Medicaid officials deny that costs have increased.

Fortunately, the House Majority leader is in favor of our bill, along with our dedicated sponsors, and noted that other options may be open for future passage.

In a follow-up comment on this outcome, one child rights advocate wrote: “The allegation of antisemitism is the reddest of red herrings. Once again, ignorance and superstition have triumphed over reason and common sense.”