Zurich Children’s Hospital has suspended performing any circumcisions as part of religious rites.

The decision comes in light of a controversial court ruling in Germany which declared such circumcisions as being assault.

Marco Stücheli, a spokesman for the Zurich hospital, said the German court ruling prompted an internal ethical debate, and the hospital will now clarify its policy on religious circumcisions.

Stücheli said the hospital didn’t fear legal action because of the procedures as doctors regularly discuss such ethical issues.