--- title: Circumcision: CDC Says It's Best for Boys description: Medical evidence suggests that the benefits of male circumcision outweigh the risks, the CDC said. canonical: https://time.com/3613880/circumcision-cdc/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-02T17:59:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:56:23.904Z og:title: Circumcision: CDC Says It's Best for Boys og:description: Medical evidence suggests that the benefits of male circumcision outweigh the risks, the CDC said. og:url: https://time.com/3613880/circumcision-cdc/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Circumcision: CDC Says It's Best for Boys twitter:description: Medical evidence suggests that the benefits of male circumcision outweigh the risks, the CDC said. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Feds Say Circumcision Best for Boys  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Dec 2, 2014 5:59 PM UTC  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Dec 2, 2014 5:59 PM UTC The benefits of male circumcision outweigh the risks of the procedure, U.S. health officials said Tuesday, in the first federal guidelines about circumcision. “Male circumcision is a proven effective prevention intervention with known medical benefits,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. “Financial and other barriers to access to male circumcision should be reduced or eliminated.” The CDC stopped short of explicitly telling parents to have their children circumcised, nothing that “other considerations, such as religion, societal norms and social customs, hygiene, aesthetic preference, and ethical considerations also influence decisions about male circumcision. Ultimately, whether to circumcise a male neonate is a decision made by parents or guardians on behalf of their newborn son.” The guidelines specifically target adolescents and young men, populations who are more likely to be infected by sexually-transmitted diseases. The guidelines say that circumcision reduces the likelihood of infection with sexually transmitted diseases, and also reduces the risk of developing penile cancer. Overall, men who are circumcised are 44% less likely to be infected with HIV, the CDC said. Circumcision: CDC Says It's Best for Boys ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3613880/circumcision-cdc/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3613880/circumcision-cdc/"},"headline":"Feds Say Circumcision Best for Boys","datePublished":"2014-12-02T17:59:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:56:23.904Z","description":"The ruling came as part of the first federal guidelines to address the procedure.","url":"https://time.com/3613880/circumcision-cdc/","keywords":["Living","Health Care","Parenting","Healthcare","HIV"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3613880/circumcision-cdc/","name":"Feds Say Circumcision Best for Boys"}}]}] ```