City attorney questions proposed circumcision ban

(RNS) In a potential blow to the proposed San Francisco circumcision
ban, the city's top lawyer has concluded it is unconstitutional to ban
the practice as a religious ritual, but allow it as a medical procedure.
The measure, now headed toward the Nov. 8 ballot, would ban nearly
all infant circumcisions.

A lawsuit arguing that no California city can regulate a medical
procedure that is allowed by the state will be heard on July 15. The
plaintiffs are a group of Jews and Muslims, groups that practice ritual
circumcision.

Should they win, a narrower ban exempting medical circumcision could
apply only to circumcision as a religious practice. And that would defy
the First Amendment, according to a brief recently filed by the city
attorney.