Court ruling leads to ban on circumcision

[tigerbob]

Legally, I completely understand this ruling and have a degree of sympathy with it since there can be little doubt that it is technically mutilation and due to the age at which it is carried out the child's consent is not given, and of course the procedure is irreversible.

But a whole host of other issues appear to be getting grafted onto it as well, so I worry that it opens the gates for multiple other "rights of the child" issues. Where will it stop? Prosecuting parents for having their infants baptized?

Plus of course it increases the likelihood of the procedure being done by those who are medically unqualified and in non-sterile conditions.

German circumcision ban: Is it a parent's right to choose?
By Stephen Evans, BBC News, Berlin

A ban on circumcision in Germany has shocked the nation's Jews and Muslims. The right of parents to make decisions for their children is now under the spotlight.

A court ruling in Germany effectively banning circumcision has united Jews and Muslims in anger - and they are backed by the country's main medical association.

Muslims have warned that the devout will take sons abroad to be circumcised.

Jews have pointed out that attacks on Jewish religious rituals have been an unfortunate part of European history since the Roman times, and say they are dismayed by the latest ban.

The ruling by the district court of Cologne says circumcision "for the purpose of religious upbringing constitutes a violation of physical integrity".

The judgement added: "The child's body is permanently and irreparably changed by the circumcision. This change conflicts with the child's interest of later being able to make his own decision on his religious affiliation."

The case stemmed from a circumcision on a four-year-old Muslim boy who had to be taken to hospital when complications developed. That, unusually, put the case into the legal system and the doctor was prosecuted.

As the charge put it, the doctor "physically mistreated another person and injured that person's health by means of a dangerous instrument".

In the end, he was cleared. The court decided that circumcision was illegal but that the doctor couldn't have been expected to have known this. It had been done for so long that it seemed legal when - according to the court - it wasn't.

Because the doctor was cleared, there will be no appeal to a higher court, which means the soundness of the rest of the judgement will not immediately be tested.

This puts the medical profession in a great dilemma. Dr Frank Montgomery, the president of the German Medical Association, told the BBC: "It leaves doctors in a legal quagmire. We are convinced that circumcision is best performed under medical conditions by physicians in a hospital.

"This is obviously no longer legally possible so therefore we have to advise our physicians not to perform these operations because they run the legal risk of being taken to court."

BBC News - German circumcision ban: Is it a parent's right to choose?

 

[Noomi]

It is best to keep it legal because those who are very devout will simply either take their kids overseas to get it done, or find someone within the country to do it. Either way, banning it won't prevent it.

 

[MHunterB]

True. What's legal can be regulated and kept safe.

 

[Unkotare]

Isn't there already a really long thread on this very topic?

 

[tigerbob]

Isn't there already a really long thread on this very topic?

Don't know. Is there?

 

[Noomi]

Isn't there already a really long thread on this very topic?

Yep. I found it.

Its right here

 

[Noomi]

I think you need to lay off the drugs for awhile.

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Awww, the poor lil' boy pro'bly thought it was bein' cut off...

Canada home circumcision conviction upheld
Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Canada's Supreme Court upheld the assault conviction of a Jehovah's Witness who tried to perform a home circumcision on his 4-year-old son.

The court agreed religious convictions did not trump the British Columbia man's lack of medical skills and proper equipment.

The appellant, whose name was not reported, was convicted of criminal negligence and assault in the 2007 incident in which he gave his son 4 ounces of homemade wine as an anesthetic and then attempted to remove the foreskin with a carpet knife purchased at Home Depot, the St. Catherines (Ontario) Standard reported Saturday.

The surgery resulted in a lot of bleeding, which was staunched with paper towels and a veterinary compound.

The man told authorities he performed the surgery to "make things right with God." Prosecutors said he should have known better because he had tried the same procedure on himself two years earlier and wound up in the hospital.

Read more: Canada high court upholds conviction in home circumcision attempt - UPI.com

 

[MHunterB]

Ummmmmmm, I thought JW's were 'dry' types - or supposed to be??????

And where was the poor mite's mother????

VERY sad.

 

[uscitizen]

Funneh as hell, both Jews And Muslims are together on this!

 

[Noomi]

Granny says, "Awww, the poor lil' boy pro'bly thought it was bein' cut off...

Canada home circumcision conviction upheld
Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Canada's Supreme Court upheld the assault conviction of a Jehovah's Witness who tried to perform a home circumcision on his 4-year-old son.

The court agreed religious convictions did not trump the British Columbia man's lack of medical skills and proper equipment.

The appellant, whose name was not reported, was convicted of criminal negligence and assault in the 2007 incident in which he gave his son 4 ounces of homemade wine as an anesthetic and then attempted to remove the foreskin with a carpet knife purchased at Home Depot, the St. Catherines (Ontario) Standard reported Saturday.

The surgery resulted in a lot of bleeding, which was staunched with paper towels and a veterinary compound.

The man told authorities he performed the surgery to "make things right with God." Prosecutors said he should have known better because he had tried the same procedure on himself two years earlier and wound up in the hospital.

Read more: Canada high court upholds conviction in home circumcision attempt - UPI.com

And so the conviction should have been upheld. He should have found a doctor willing to perform the circumcision instead of attempting it himself.

 

[ekrem]

Funneh as hell, both Jews And Muslims are together on this!

Court decision has already been overturned by Government law.

 

[eflatminor]

It is best to keep it legal...banning it won't prevent it.

True of circumcision, true of drugs, true of firearms...true of everything central planners try to ban.

Just looking for a little consistency.