Is the act the crime?

Is this disgusting act criminal because the man assaulted the children or because he practiced medicine¹ without a license:

A Gaston County man, who is the father of a dozen kids by two different women, is now facing even more child abuse charges in Caldwell County.

Marlowe and his two wives lived in Lenoir for several years and during that time Amber says he delivered and then circumcised two of his youngest sons.

Police reports indicate that Marlowe used a utility knife and one of the boys even bled extensively.

I understand what most people will argue is the difference between this story and common American practice. I reject such arguments outright. If you think that an operating room and training would be sufficient to overcome the clear assault, you’re ignoring that ritual male genital cutting takes place outside of a sterile surgical environment. You’re ignoring that training is required because the act is surgery. You’re ignoring that surgery was not indicated in the circumcision of these two boys, just as it isn’t in more than one million American male infants circumcised every year. You’re also ignoring that female genital cutting could pass the same low test, yet we understand that the location and training is indicative only of the person’s sense within the confines of insanity. The physical act is assault.

Anyone outraged by the circumcisions in this story who does not object to circumcision as it is commonly practiced in America is a hypocrite.

¹ To the extent that this is “medicine” in its common form, an objectionable claim.