NYC Urged To Ban Ritual Male Circumcision For Infants

New York City's uneasy arrangement with its Orthodox Jewish community which led the city to transfer to a Jewish religious court the issue of the safety of a particular method of circumcision (see prior posting) has led anti-circumcision advocates to urge the City to take much more drastic action. Medical News Today on Sunday reported that activist Matthew Hess of San Diego is urging New York to ban medically unnecessary circumcision of children under 18 since they are unable to give their consent. J. Steven Svoboda, Executive Director of Attorneys for the Rights of the Child said, "Removing healthy, functional tissue from a nonconsenting minor in the name of religion or preventive medicine is assault' and urged that male circumcision be banned just as female circumcision already is.