A hospital in the German city of Essen is campaigning to prevent ritual circumcisions, leading to a drop in the number of procedures performed this year compared to the corresponding period last year - from 70 to 11.

The DerWesten.de news website cited Dr. Peter Liedgens, the director of pediatric surgery at Elisabeth Hospital, saying that he has managed to persuade three quarters of parents at his hospital to rethink circumcision.



The website also claims the hospital would cease to perform childhood circumcisions. However, a hospital spokesman clarified to The Jerusalem Post that, while it still performs circumcisions and has no plans to stop, it performs them only on children above the age of one and only under general anesthesia.



“Circumcisions are performed only by our pediatric surgeons and not by ritual circumcisers on hospital grounds. So the new policy doesn’t really change anything concerning this procedure,” explained spokesman Thomas Kalhöfer.



Asked if the hospital would try to deter religious families from circumcising their children, Kalhöfer told The Post: “We respect the religious grounds of families asking for circumcision, and we don’t actively want to persuade them to desist.



“Our surgeons are arguing from a medical standpoint according to the new medical guidelines of the German Society of Pediatric Surgeons, who recommend to perform circumcision only for medical reasons,” he said.



In 2012, a Cologne court ruled that circumcision was a form of bodily harm subject to criminal penalties, generating vehement protests from Jewish organizations and Israel.



While the Bundestag moved swiftly to pass legislation enshrining the right to undergo circumcisions, several German medical associations are strongly opposed to the practice.



