Germany Debates Proposal To Protect Circumcision – Forward.com: Berlin — A proposal to enshrine circumcision of male children as a protected procedure that Jews and Muslims could continue without fear of sanction faces an uncertain fate in Germany’s Bundestag, say close observers of German politics.
The proposal heading to the parliament aims to calm a storm that erupted last May after a Cologne court ruled that a botched circumcision violated the child’s rights because it constituted “illegal bodily harm” even with parental consent. Though strictly local in its jurisdiction, the ruling’s novel application of child rights law set off a furor of concern about the future legal status of circumcision nationwide.
