US CITIES MAY BAN CIRCUMCISION

Citizens of two US cities may be asked to vote to ban circumcision of males under the age of 18 in local referendums.

Earlier this month, it was confirmed that in San Francisco the issue has made it to the ballot with 7,700 people signing a petition to include the question in the November 2011 poll (7,168 signatures are legally required to do so).

If the law is passed by voters, anyone found guilty of circumcising a male under the age of 18 would receive a $1,000 fine or be jailed for up to one year.

Religious or cultural practices would not be exempt from the law, a fact that has angered some religious leaders.

‘Male genital mutilation’

Now, anti-circumcision lobbyists, led by a group named MGM Bill, are also attempting to put the matter to Santa Monica’s voters in 2012.

MGM Bill is a non-profit organisation based in California lobbying to end the practice of “male genital mutilation” (circumcision) in the US on the basis that it causes “well documented lifelong damage”.

The organisation aims to only allow circumcision in cases in which it is medically necessary to the physical health of a child, and to prohibit US citizens from taking or sending their children overseas to be circumcised.