The proponent of a proposition aimed at banning circumcision in Santa Monica has informed the Jewish Journal that she is abandoning her effort to put the question to voters in the beachfront city before beginning to collect any signatures.
Jena Troutman, a lactation consultant and self-described “children’s rights advocate,” said Monday afternoon that she has decided not to move forward with the petition because of what she called the media’s misrepresentation of her efforts as an attack on religious freedom.
“It shouldn’t have been about religion in the first place,” Troutman said in an interview. “Ninety-five percent of people aren’t doing it for religious reasons, and with everyone from the New York Times to Glenn Beck focusing on the religious issue, it’s closing Americans down to the conversation.”
Troutman was featured prominently in an article in the New York Times on Sunday about attempts to ban circumcision in two California cities. A mother of two, Troutman runs the website wholebabyrevolution.com, which she describes as an educational resource for parents considering circumcision.
