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Appeal unlikely for S.F. circumcision ban ballot measure

Time appears to have run out for the proponents of a San Francisco ballot measure that would have banned circumcision of any boy under 18 in the city.
[additional-authors]
August 24, 2011

Time appears to have run out for the proponents of a San Francisco ballot measure that would have banned circumcision of any boy under 18 in the city.

The measure’s backers reportedly had been considering appealing the July 28 ruling by Superior Court Judge Loretta Giorgi that struck the proposition from the ballot. But with a key step in the process of producing San Francisco’s ballots now complete, there appears to be little chance that the measure will be put to voters on Nov. 8.

San Francisco’s Ballot Simplification Committee, the governmental body tasked with producing short digests of measures for the city’s ballots, held its first open meeting on Aug. 1. The committee approved digests for eight ballot measures in the course of its meetings, the last one on Aug. 10. No digest was produced for the measure aiming to ban circumcision.

“The court ordered this measure not to go on the ballot; we’re following that order,” said John Arntz, elections director at San Francisco’s Department of Elections. “I haven’t heard of anything that would potentially change the status of this measure.”

Lloyd Schofield, the proponent of the measure, could not be reached last week for comment. In an e-mail on Aug. 3, before the committee had completed its work, Schofield said he was unable to comment specifically on any future legal or legislative actions aimed at advancing the effort to prohibit male infant circumcision.

“Our objective is to protect the choice of ALL men, we are looking at every option,” Schofield wrote. “We are in this for the long run and will ultimately do what we think is best to achieve that goal.”

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