In response to the proposed circumcision ban set for San Francisco’s fall ballot, two State Assembly members have authored a bill barring enactment of local ordinances that ban the procedure.
Assembly members Mike Gatto (D-Burbank) and Fiona Ma (D–San Francisco) wrote AB 768, which forbids municipalities from prohibiting circumcision. This bill joins a similar federal bill now pending in Congress, as well as a local lawsuit, spearheaded by the Jewish Community Relations Council, seeking to strike the proposed ban from the San Francisco ballot.
The ACLU and the San Francisco Medical Society recently filed amicus briefs on behalf of the JCRC lawsuit.
Gatto said he chose to act because he opposed the notion of a patchwork of municipal bans on a safe and legal medical procedure, and he also believes some anti-circumcision activists were motivated in part by religious prejudice.
“I had in back of my mind how this was definitely an odd topic for a ballot initiative,” Gatto told j. “I thought somebody has to step in and do something about it.”
Gatto added that AB 768 is currently under consideration in the Senate Judiciary Committee. He predicted that after the summer recess, the bill will be fast-tracked because it contains an urgency clause. If passed before November, it would obviate the San Francisco vote.