San Francisco man hopes to bring about ban on circumcision

Article here. Excerpt:

'At his website that presents the proposed bill and a picture of a happy baby, Schofield calls for the residents’ support that “will help us to protect all infants and children in San Francisco from the pain and harm caused by forced genital cutting," adding that "damage ranges from excruciating pain, nerve destruction, loss of normal, natural and functional tissue, infection, disfigurement and sometimes death."

According to the bill, performing circumcision will be made a misdemeanor punished by a 1000 dollars fine or jail time for up to a year, or both.

The only exception in Schofield's vision will be made if the surgical operation "is necessary to the physical health of the person on whom it is performed because of a clear, compelling, and immediate medical need with no less-destructive alternative treatment available, and is performed by a person licensed in the place of its performance as a medical practitioner."

The parents in the United States can't totally make up their mind, and physicians are more hesitant to give them a recommendation. According to a quite recent report, in 2006 65% of the male babies were circumcised in the US (Jewish population is only about 2%), however, in 2009 the numbers dropped to 32.5%.'