Friday, June 29, 2007

Egypt outlaws female circumcision

Egypt has banned all female circumcision, the widely-practised removal of the clitoris which just days ago cost the life of a 12-year-old girl in the country.

Hatem al-Gabali, the health minister, decided on Thursday to ban every doctor and member of the medical profession, in public or private establishments, from carrying out a clitoridectomy.

Any circumcision "will be viewed as a violation of the law and all contraventions will be punished," a ministry official said.

A survey in 2000 said the practice was carried out on 97 per cent of the country's women.

'Loophole' closed

The health ministry's step cancelled a 1996 provision to the law which had permitted circumcision "in situations of illness" should doctors advise it.

The measure to outlaw the practice entirely came after a girl died while undergoing the procedure at a private medical clinic last week.

Budour Ahmed Shaker died in the southern province of Minya, south of Cairo, after she was given a heavy dose of anaesthetic, security sources said.

She had been taken to the clinic by her mother but died before she could be transferred to a hospital.

The practice, which affects both Muslim and Christian women in Egypt, is believed to have begun in the time of the pharoahs.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Sotto Voce