On Tuesday, September 6, 2011, the California State Legislature passed pro-circumcision bill AB 768 with little opposition. The bill asserts that “circumcision has a wide array of health and affiliative benefits,” a claim that no medical organization in the world supports.

Bill AB 768 was created in response to the SF MGMBill ballot initiative, which garnered over 12,00 signatures, only to be pulled from the ballot in an “emergency” move by legislators in the name of “religious freedom and parental rights.” The SF MGMBill would have banned the performance of non-therapeutic circumcisions on minors, and included a maximum $1,000 penalty and one year imprisonment term for doctors and parents.

AB 768 now goes to Governor Brown’s desk to be signed into law.