Male circumcision ban to appear on San Francisco ballot

May 19th, 2011 - 7:57 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt  

San Francisco, May 19 (THAINDIAN NEWS) San Francisco officials have announced that they have gathered enough signatures to move to the next step in a bid to get male circumcision among minors banned.

The San Francisco Elections Committee will have the final say if the issue will end up on the ballot. The proposal which was brought forward by a group needed 7,168 residents to append their signatures to be considered for the ballot in November. However the group got more than that number and it is expected that the issue will end up on the ballot paper. With the submission of the signatures, the Elections Committee has up to 30 days to decide on the petition.

In the proposal, those who take part and perform male circumcision on male children under the age of 18 years will be made to pay $1,000 fine or they can be sent to jail for violations.

The supporters of the new petition argue that adults should be made to choose whether they want to have circumcision or not. This will clash with the beliefs of some religious people in the city. Jews are mandated in their books to circumcise their male children on the 8th day of their birth.

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