In the United States, obstetricians perform the largest share of newborn circumcisions, accounting for about 44.5% of procedures. Pediatricians handle roughly 33%, and the remaining cases are split among family physicians, urologists, pediatric surgeons, and advanced practice clinicians. Outside of hospitals, trained religious practitioners also perform the procedure in Jewish and Muslim communities.
Obstetricians and Pediatricians Do Most Circumcisions
A large analysis of nearly one million privately insured newborn circumcisions found that OB/GYNs and pediatricians together performed about 77% of all cases. This makes sense logistically: the obstetrician is already present for the delivery, and most circumcisions happen in the hospital within the first few days of life. About 58% of newborn circumcisions take place in the inpatient setting before the baby goes home.
If the procedure is deferred during the hospital stay, a pediatrician, family practice physician, or pediatric urologist typically performs it in an outpatient clinic within the first few weeks. Once a baby passes about six months of age, circumcision generally requires general anesthesia in an operating room, which changes the calculus significantly.
When a Specialist Is Needed
Urologists and pediatric urologists perform only about 1.5% and 0.7% of newborn circumcisions, respectively. Their role grows when the baby has an anatomical condition that makes routine circumcision unsafe. Stanford Medicine lists several contraindications that should prompt a referral to a pediatric urologist: hypospadias (where the urethral opening is on the underside of the penis), ambiguous genitalia, a buried or webbed penis, and penile torsion, among others. In these cases, the foreskin tissue may be needed for later reconstructive surgery, so circumcision is deferred until a specialist evaluates the anatomy.
Revision Rates Vary by Provider Type
Not all providers produce identical outcomes. A study covering over 976,000 newborn circumcisions between 2010 and 2022 found that the overall 30-day complication rate was just under 1%. But when researchers looked at which babies needed a revision procedure within two years, obstetricians had higher rates than every other specialty. Compared to OB/GYN-performed circumcisions, those done by pediatricians were 54% less likely to need revision, those by urologists 71% less likely, and those by pediatric urologists 62% less likely.
This doesn’t necessarily mean obstetricians are less skilled. They perform the procedure far more often than other providers and handle the broadest range of cases. But the data suggests that if you’re choosing a provider for an outpatient circumcision, asking about their training, volume, and revision rates is reasonable.
Religious Practitioners
In Jewish tradition, circumcision (brit milah) is performed on the eighth day of life, often at home, by a mohel. Some mohels are physicians who have added religious certification to their medical training. The Rabbinical Assembly, for instance, offers a brit milah training program exclusively for practicing physicians and healthcare professionals who already have experience performing circumcisions. Applicants need a medical license, malpractice insurance, a recommendation from a rabbi, and must complete an in-person training conference covering both surgical technique and Jewish law.
Other mohels come from a purely religious training background without a medical degree. Certification standards vary, and there is no single national licensing body. If you’re hiring a mohel, asking about their medical credentials, complication history, and sterilization practices is worth doing.
In Muslim communities, circumcision is considered a recommended religious practice, though there’s no fixed timeline for when it should happen. The trend in many countries has been moving toward medical settings. In one large study from Pakistan, about 80% of boys were circumcised at a health facility, and parents preferred trained medical providers. However, a significant portion of circumcisions in some regions are still performed by traditional practitioners with limited training, which contributes to higher complication rates in those settings.
Where Circumcision Rates Stand Now
Overall newborn circumcision rates in the U.S. have been declining. A Johns Hopkins study reviewing over 1.5 million hospitalizations of male newborns found that the rate dropped from 54.1% in 2012 to 49.3% in 2022. The decline was sharpest among white families (65.3% to 60%), families in the highest-income ZIP codes (59.4% to 51.1%), and those with private insurance (64.2% to 56.3%). Rates among Black newborns held steady at around 65%, while rates among Hispanic newborns remained at about 21%.
What to Ask Your Provider
If you’re deciding who should circumcise your baby, the most important factors are the provider’s training, how many procedures they perform regularly, and what setting the procedure will take place in. A hospital-based circumcision in the first few days of life, performed under local anesthesia by an experienced provider, carries the lowest risk profile. Neonatal circumcisions have minor complication rates of 1 to 2% (mostly bleeding or minor infection) and major complication rates below 1%.
If your baby has any unusual anatomy, the provider should recognize it and defer to a pediatric urologist rather than proceed. Ask directly whether the provider screens for contraindications before the procedure. Training quality varies: a Canadian study found that 85% of circumcision providers were family doctors and pediatricians rather than surgeons, and that surgeons reported higher comfort levels managing complications when they arose.