U.S. military doctors stationed in Germany will continue to perform circumcisions despite a ruling that has roiled the country’s medical and political establishments.
Stars and Stripes on July 23 quoted U.S. officials as saying that a decision by a Cologne court banning circumcision for nonmedical reasons applies only in that jurisdiction, where there are no U.S. military facilities.
Should a court in a region where the U.S. military has facilities ban the practice, the policy will be reviewed, the officials told the newspaper.
A number of German and Swiss doctors have stopped the practice until the legal implications of the Cologne court’s ruling are fully understood.
Jewish and Muslim groups have protested the rulings, and German lawmakers have taken legislative steps toward protecting the practice.
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