German court rules circumcision a grievous bodily harm

[pbear19]

I'm completely fascinated by this case.

The regional court in Cologne said that circumcision went against the "fundamental right of the child to bodily integrity outweighed the fundamental rights of the parents." They added that religious freedom would not be curtailed because the child would be able to choose later whether he wanted to have a circumcision. However, if the parents decided for the boy, it changed the body of the child "irreparably and permanently" and went against that child's rights to choose his religious beliefs.

(Kindly ignore the horrific grammatical nonsense in that quote.)

I have an 11 week old boy, a bachelor's in German, and am one semester away from a JD. Hence my fascination with this case. It's making the rounds a bit in the online mom community, with a lot of backlash about religious freedom. Since there isn't an absolute right (in the US) to freedom of religious practice, only to religious belief, I think the bigger news here is that a court has decided that circumcision for non-medical reasons is harmful. But that's not the discussion that I'm seeing.

Circumcision has long been a hot button issue in the "mom community" as I like to call it. But this is something very different. I'm also seeing a lot of unfortunate commentary about this because of Germany's history with the Jewish faith. If you don't read the article (or any of the many others about the ruling) I'll point out that the case went to court initially because of a circumcision on a Muslim boy, not a Jewish boy.

[naraht]

Circumcision was never as heavily done in Europe as it was in the United States, Through the first 2/3 of the 20th century, Circumcision in non-Jewish community in the United States was still well above half...

I was under the impression that Circumcision of boys in the Muslim community tended to be much later (age 12?), so this ruling would affect Jews much more than Muslims.

From what I understand, "circumcision" of girls can be much earlier, but actually would have a harder time getting a religious exemption for. (I'm pretty sure the Koran doesn't talk about female "Circumcision", but I think it does for boys.

I'd actually like to see a different term used other than Female Circumcision. From what I understand if the equivalent parts were removed in boys that are removed in Female circumcision, the entire head of the penis would be removed. Are there groups that only remove the equivalent female labial parts to a traditional Jewish male circumcision? (which I would imaging would be considerably more difficult to get to cleanly in an infant).

I also almost wonder if some version of this ruling could be used against those who pierce baby girl's ears at a very young age. (Personal opinion, I find pierced ears in those under age 4 to be disturbing.)