Circumcision Ban Off SF Ballot

I don't think circumcision is as big an issue here in the UK as in the States but it's been getting some steam over there recently. Anti-circumcision (or mutilation as they see it) campaigners attempted to get a proposition on the ballot for this November, which if successful would have banned male circumcision. I've written previously that I didn't see how it could be constitutional and now a judge as upheld that view.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported this week that 'the proposed law violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of religious freedom and a California law that makes regulating medical procedures a function of the state, not cities.

'The ruling by Superior Court Judge Loretta Giorgi confirmed a tentative decision she issued a day earlier and came after she heard arguments from proponents of the ban, which would have made San Francisco the first U.S. city to hold a public vote on whether to outlaw the circumcision of minors.'

The local context is discussed on the excellent Petrelis Files blog here. The debate in San Francisco might have just hit a brick wall but I don't think it's the end of the issue.

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