VIENNA, July 30 (Reuters) - Doctors in Austria's westernmost
province have been cleared to resume circumcisions after the
Justice Ministry reassured them that they can perform the
religious practice without risking criminal charges, officials
said on Monday.
Spooked by a regional court ruling in neighbouring Germany
that the practice supported by Muslims and Jews amounted to
physical abuse, the governor of Austria's Vorarlberg province
last week advised doctors to suspend it, triggering a heated
debate.
Another state governor came out in favour of a national ban.
Austria's Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim leaders
united in defence of circumcision on Friday, condemning calls to
limit the practice as an attack on religion and demanding that
the government clarify its legality.
A letter from Justice Minister Beatrix Karl giving the legal
all clear has now helped assuage concerns, a spokesman for
Vorarlberg Governor Markus Wallner said.
"We only wanted to get legal certainty for doctors so they
can be clear whether they face legal consequences if they
perform circumcisions for religious reasons," he said.
Doctors still have to decide for themselves whether to
perform such voluntary operations, which are not covered by the
public health system, he added.
A spokesman for Karl said the minister had simply put in
writing to Vorarlberg state officials what she and her legal
experts have said in public for days.
Austria is home to about half a million Muslims, most of
whom are migrant workers from Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
and about 9,000 Jews, down from about 200,000 before the
annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938.
(Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)