Brown signs bill banning anti-circumcision laws

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KGO) -- Governor Jerry Brown has signed a bill into law that prevents California communities from banning the practice of circumcision on infant males, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Assembly Bill 768, which was introduced after a San Francisco initiative on the topic of circumcision gained momentum, was introduced by Assemblyman Mike Gatto and passed the state legislature in late August.

Gatto said anti-circumcision measures would infringe on the medical, religious and personal freedoms of parents.

Muslim and Jewish community leaders had argued the same when the initiative popped up earlier this year in San Francisco. A group that had sought to ban circumcision in San Francisco collected the necessary 12,000 signatures needed to place the initiative on the upcoming November ballot.

However, a judge knocked the initiative off the ballot in late July.

Sunday's signing of AB 768 reinforces a state law that already bans cities and counties from regulating medical procedures.

A study released in early September by the Centers for Disease Control showed circumcision rates for newborn males dropped between 1999 and 2008.

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