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Santa Monica Foreskin Laws to Stay Intact
Photo by Lushbunny via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
After considering following in the foreskin footsteps of San Francisco, the woman behind an effort in Santa Monica to ban circumcision has decided to withdraw her proposed ballot initiative, reports the Jewish Journal. The measure would have copied the language used in the San Francisco initiative, which will go before voters in November. It states that the foreskin of minor boys cannot be removed barring a procedure that's necessary for health reasons, and would potentially have made the act of circumcision a misdemeanor.
Jena Troutman of Santa Monica decided that the measure had become misrepresented by the media and that the focus had become about the religious implications of the ban -- both Jews and Muslims practice circumcision for religious purposes -- and so had detracted from her message that circumcision isn't necessary and can even be dangerous.
Troutman runs the website wholebabyrevolution.com, and was quoted in a New York Times article about the anti-circumcision movement over the weekend as saying:
“I am just a mom trying to save the little babies,” Ms. Troutman said. “I’d rather be on the beach, but nobody is talking about this, so I have to.”
The circumcision fight heated up last week after a cartoon called "Foreskin Man" hit the internet. "Foreskin Man" featured a buff, blond-haired superhero trying to take down his nemesis, an evil Jewish villain called "Monster Mohel." The cartoon was called anti-Semitic by the Anti-Defamation League.
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