(JTA) — California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that prevents the state’s municipalities from banning male circumcision.
Brown announced Sunday that he had signed the measure, which takes effect immediately.
The state’s Legislature approved the bill early last month following attempts in two cities to place circumcision bans on the November ballot.
Anti-circumcision activists, or "intactivists," in San Francisco had gathered 12,000 signatures in the spring to have a circumcision ban placed on the city’s ballot. If passed, the San Francisco initiative would have made the practice of circumcising a minor a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to one year in jail, and offered no exemption for religious ritual.
A state Superior Court Judge in California had ruled in July that the anti-circumcision measure in San Francisco must be struck from the ballot because the city lacked the authority to regulate a medical procedure.
A similar measure was submitted to the Santa Monica municipality and later withdrawn.
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