Jewish groups in San Francisco have banded together to fight off the possible inclusion of a law on an upcoming ballot that, if passed, would ban male circumcision from taking place in the city. The ballot effort is being organized by a person named Lloyd Schofield, who says he currently has about half of the 7,000-some signatures he needs to include the provision on the ballot. Calling circumcision a “violation of human rights,” Schofield has said in several interviews that circumcision is “essentially a form of culturally accepted genital mutilation.”
Jewish efforts are working to prevent the inclusion of the law on the ballot, said San Francisco Anti-Defamation League director Daniel Sandman. “This is hurtful and offensive to people in the community who consider this a coveted ritual,” he said. Attorneys for the ADL said that they were examining the possibility that the law could violate the First Amendment right to Freedom of Religion. If the ban is approved, anyone caught circumcising infants or minors could face a $1,000 fine and up to a year in prison.