SAN FRANCISCO: Anti-Circumcision Group To Place Ban On City Ballot

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.