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The ballot referendum is a still a long way away, but it doesn't look good for San Francisco's proposed ban on male circumcision.
San Francisco voters 4:1 oppose a ballot measure that would make it against the law to circumcise any male child under the age of 18, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for KPIX-TV. The city lines up on circumcision this way:
* 26% see it as a harmless tradition.
* 47% see it as a medical procedure whose health benefits outweigh the health risks.
* 8% see it as a medical procedure whose risks outweigh the benefits.
* 9% see it as mutilation.Women by 2:1 say they would circumcise a boy if they had a male baby today. Men split. Regardless of their feelings about circumcision, San Franciscans by 8:1 say the government should not be involved. Jewish voters oppose the ballot measure 18:1.
Opponents of San Francisco's proposed ban on circumcision say a comic book being using to promote the ballot referendum is anti-Semitic. The comic is being sold on the website of Matthew Hess, the bill's chief author and proponent. It features a muscular blond superhero fighting off rabbis who are attempting to complete a circumcision.
Saunders asked Hess if his comic is anti-Semitic. His answer: "A lot of people have said that, but we're not trying to be anti-Semitic. We're trying to be pro-human rights." He told her the "next issue will deal with a different kind of circumcision."Meantime, Hess is pushing his political effort with other dark, threatening images of Jewish characters. His "Foreskin Man" card set being sold through Cafe Press feautures the terrifying-looking "Monster Mohel." The astounding description of a person qualified to perform the Jewish rite of circumcision: "Nothing excites Monster Mohel more than cutting into the infantile penile flesh of an eight day old boy."
First San Francisco, now Santa Monica.
Performing a circumcision on a boy under age 18 — even for religious reasons — would be illegal under a measure that a San Diego group hopes to place on Santa Monica's November 2012 ballot. A similar initiative this month from the anti-circumcision group known as MGM Bill garnered enough signatures in San Francisco to place it on that city's November ballot. MGM stands for "male genital mutilation."
Yesterday San Francisco election officials certified the petition campaign to place a city-wide ban on circumcision on the November ballot.
If the measure passes, circumcision would be prohibited among males under the age of 18. The practice would become a misdemeanor offense punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to one year in jail. There would be no religious exemptions. The initiative appears to be the first of its kind in the country to actually make it to this stage, though a larger national debate over the health benefits of circumcision has been going on for many years. Banning circumcision would almost certainly prompt a flurry of legal challenges alleging violations of the First Amendment's guarantee of the freedom to exercise one's religious beliefs.Approximately 80% of adult American men are circumcised. Worldwide, that number is only about 30%.
A San Francisco anti-circumcision group has collected enough petition signatures to place a city-wide ban on the practice on the November ballot.
Legal experts, however, said even if such a measure were to pass, it would likely be quickly overturned as an unconstitutional attack on the grounds of religious freedom. Chief opponent Lloyd Schofield, 59, acknowledged circumcision is a ritual among Jews and a common practice among Muslims, but insisted it should be outlawed. "It's excruciatingly painful and permanently damaging surgery that's forced on men when they're at their weakest and most vulnerable," he said. San Francisco officials say Schofield's group submitted about 12,000 signatures supporting his proposed ban, which is more than enough to get it on the ballot in November.The proposed measure would make it a crime to circumcise a boy under the age of 18.
