Abraham Wolbarst

{{Short description|American physician}}

Abraham Leo Wolbarst (1872 – 1952){{cite web |title=Wolbarst, A. L. (Abraham Leo), 1872-1952 |url=https://archives.cjh.org/agents/people/117651 |website=archives.cjh.org |publisher=Center for Jewish History ArchivesSpace |access-date=8 February 2024}} was an American physician.

A Jewish American physician, Wolbarst was a promoter of universal circumcision for boys, which he famously claimed prevented penile cancer due to the accumulation of smegma in uncircumcised males, which he believed to be carcinogenic. While the specific arguments related to smegma have largely been refuted,{{cite journal |title=Penile Carcinoma in Circumcised Males |journal=New York State Journal of Medicine |date=November 1979 |volume=79 |issue=12 |pages=1903–1904 |pmid=292845 |url=https://www.cirp.org/library/disease/cancer/boczko/}}{{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=Brian G. |last2=Lloyd-Smith |first2=James O. |last3=Gouws |first3=Eleanor |last4=Hankins |first4=Catherine |last5=Getz |first5=Wayne M. |last6=Hargrove |first6=John |last7=Zoysa |first7=Isabelle de |last8=Dye |first8=Christopher |last9=Auvert |first9=Bertran |title=The Potential Impact of Male Circumcision on HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa |journal=PLOS Medicine |date=11 July 2006 |volume=3 |issue=7 |pages=e262 |doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0030262 |doi-access=free |pmid=16822094 |pmc=1489185 |issn=1549-1676}}{{cite journal |last1=Glick |first1=Leonard B. |author-link=Leonard Glick |title='This Little Operation': Jewish American Physicians and Twentieth-Century Circumcision Advocacy |journal=Marked in Your Flesh: Circumcision from Ancient Judea to Modern America |date=1 July 2005 |pages=179–214 |doi=10.1093/019517674x.003.0008 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/019517674X.003.0008 |publisher=Oxford University Press|url-access=subscription }}{{cite book |last1=Denniston |first1=George C. |last2=Milos |first2=Marilyn Fayre |title=Sexual Mutilations: A Human Tragedy |date=30 April 1997 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-0-306-45589-6 |pages=25–26 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qof6J4n1860C}} it remains the case that childhood/adolescent circumcision is protective against invasive penile cancer.{{cite journal |last1=Larke |first1=Natasha L. |last2=Thomas |first2=Sara L. |last3=dos Santos Silva |first3=Isabel |last4=Weiss |first4=Helen A. |author-link4=Helen Weiss |date=August 2011 |title=Male circumcision and penile cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis |journal=Cancer Causes & Control |volume=22 |issue=8 |pages=1097–1110 |doi=10.1007/s10552-011-9785-9 |pmc=3139859}} He also claimed that epilepsy was caused by a tight foreskin in uncircumcised males.

Outside of his work on male circumcision, Wolbarst was a member of the Euthanasia Society of America, wherein he promoted the killing of individuals with health defects, who he believed were a financial burden on society.{{cite book |last1=Gorsuch |first1=Neil M. |author-link=Neil Gorsuch |title=The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia |date=23 March 2009 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-3034-3 |pages=35–36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DwwqAgdREKoC&pg=PA35}}