WOMENS-HEALTH Messages for October, 1998: femal genital mutilation

femal genital mutilation

From: Andrea (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Fri, 16 Oct 1998 12:03:16 -0500 (CDT)

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Hi! I am a nursing student at the University of North Dakota. I have been doing reserach on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). I am concerned about the pain and horror these girls are forced to endure. I definitely have to agree that FGM should be viewed as a federal offense. The JAMA article "Female Genital Mutilation" noted that female genital mutilation typically occurs at about seven years of age, but mutilated women suffer medical complications throughout thier adult lives. FGM most frequently occurs in Africa, the Middle East, and Muslim parts of Indonesia and Malaysia, and it is generally part of a ceremonial induction into adult society. According to Brady (1998) infibulation is the type of FGM most often performed in African countries. This is the most mutilating form of FGM. The clitoris, labia minora, and labia majora are removed. Then the raw surfaces are sutured and most of the vaginal orifice is closed. Only a small opening often the size of the head of a matchstick is left open for urination and menstruation. the persons performing this procedure are usually untrianed women working under primitive conditions without anesthesia. The cutting instument may be a razor blade, scissors, kitchen knife, or a piece of broken glass. According to the Fondation For Women's Health it is estimated that more than 128 million women and young girls have been mutilated throughout the world. In the United States FGM has been made illegal, but it is feared that thousands of women and young girls are at risk of having this operation performed. FGM has been made illegal in California, North Dakota, Minnesota, and North Carolina. Bills are currently pending in New York and Washington. In California the fight goes on to wipe out the practice of FGM. It is feared that the operation will continue in secrecy. In September, the president signed a bill making FGM an unlawful procedure in the United States. The American Medical Association (AMA) Board of Deligates has adopted a policy branding FGM as an act of child abuse. I am interested to know if anyone has ever taken care of patients with FGM and how you handled it ethically. I am also interested about the provisions of appropriate care that is sensitive to the special physical and psychosocial needs of circumcised women in prenatal care, intrapartum difficulties and postpartum infections?

Thank You, Andrea Stahlberg

Brady, M. (1998, September). Female Genital Mutilation. Nursing 98, 50-51.

Council Repot: "Female Genital Mutilation," JAMA. 274(21):1714-1716, December 6, 1995.

"Fondation For Women's Health" forward, USA: Foundation For Women's Health. <http://www.tggh.net/forward/

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