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Other Voices: Genital mutilation must be banned

THE SEATTLE TIMES

Dozens of countries have enacted laws against female genital cutting, a procedure in which parts of young girls’ genitalia are surgically altered or removed for nonmedical reasons.

For more than 20 years, the United States was one of them. That changed last month when a federal judge in Michigan struck down the long-standing U.S. ban on the practice, which is sometimes called female genital mutilation, or female circumcision.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman said the cutting of young girls’ genitals is a local criminal matter that must be regulated by the states, not by Congress.

“As despicable as this practice may be, it is essentially a criminal assault,” Friedman wrote. Female genital mutilation “is not part of a larger market and it has no demonstrated effect on interstate commerce. The Commerce Clause does not permit Congress to regulate a crime of this nature.”

For now, that leaves states to decide whether to criminalize this procedure, which is typically performed on girls age 15 and younger for social, cultural or religious reasons. Twenty-seven U.S. states currently ban female genital cutting.

Reasons for the practice vary. Some social groups view it as a rite of passage into womanhood, or a means of controlling women’s sexuality. Others consider it a way of making women more clean, or as a prerequisite for marriage.

While it is common in several countries in Africa, as well as certain places in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, some instances have also been reported in the United States. In the Michigan case, the lead defendant was a local doctor accused of performing female genital mutilation on nine girls between the ages of 8 and 13.

The federal ban that was struck down included a prohibition on “vacation cutting,” in which girls are transported to other countries for the purpose of having their genitals cut.

The painful procedure provides no health benefits but can cause lingering problems, including complications in childbirth, painful sexual intercourse and urinary infections. The practice is broadly condemned by the United Nations and the World Health Organization, which call it a violation of women’s rights.

Yet both organizations say the practice remains a pressing issue worldwide, both due to rising populations in countries where it occurs and increased emigration from those areas to other parts of the world.

As a countermeasure, all other states should join the states that already have banned this practice. Doing so would send a clear message in support of women’s rights, while ensuring that a strong legal deterrent remains in place against a practice that can cause irreversible damage to women and girls.