A new bill in Iceland could make it a crime to circumcise infant boys for non-medical reasons. If passed, it would be the first of it’s kind in Europe. Doctors, nurses and midwives have thrown their support behind the bill, but it is receiving criticism from religious leaders. Ahmad Seddeeq, the imam of the Islamic Cultural Center of Iceland, told The New York Times that the bill is “a contravention to the religious rights of freedom” that criminalizes a centuries-old tradition. The bill was introduced by four political parties and uses the same wording as a 2005 Icelandic law banning female genital mutilation, but this new law changes the word “girls” to “children.” Anyone who violates the ban could be imprisoned for up to six years. Silja Dogg Gunnarsdottir of the centrist Progressive Party told The Times that even though many children do not have complications from circumcision, “one is too many if the procedure is unnecessary.” Religious organizations think this is a weak argument. “I think they should also propose that parents should not take the children skiing — or pierce their ears,” said Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, the president of the Conference of European Rabbis, to The Times. He views the bill as an anti-immigrant issue directed against Muslims and that “we the Jews are collateral damage.” It is “basically saying that Jews are not anymore welcome in Iceland,” he said to The Times. But nearly 400 doctors have signed a petition in support of the bill and more than 1,000 nurses and midwives have also endorsed it.
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