New legislation signed into law by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on Tuesday makes female genital mutilation a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The laws apply both to doctors who conduct the procedure and parents who transport a child to undergo it. "Those who commit these horrendous crimes should be held accountable for their actions, and these bills stiffen the penalties for offenders while providing additional support to victims," Gov. Snyder said in a statement. "This legislation is an important step toward eliminating this despicable practice in Michigan while empowering victims to find healing and justice."
The governor also signed a bill allowing for a health professional's license or registration to be revoked if he or she is convicted of female genital mutilation.
Michigan is the 26th state to ban the practice; the state laws go into effect in October. The practice was banned in the United States in 1996, but Michigan's laws impose harsher penalties than the federal law. The package of bills comes amid the federal criminal trial of an emergency room doctor in Michigan, Jumana Nagarwala, charged with performing the procedure on multiple girls at a clinic in suburban Detroit. The Department of Justice says it believes the case is the first to be brought under the federal law. Another doctor and his wife are also charged in the case, the AP reports.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Bot on Friday July 14 2017, @04:04PM (5 children)
> Hypocratic
*hypocritical
(hey don't blame me, I am just applying an algorithm)
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday July 14 2017, @04:59PM (4 children)
People using "hypocritical" to mean "stupid" is up there on my list of misused words that drive me nuts. This doctor would only be hypocritical for performing FGM if she was a well-known opponent of FGM.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by Bot on Friday July 14 2017, @07:38PM
I have some familiarity with Greek terms, thank you. I could have been referring to the hypocrisy of some (#notalldoctors) people who swear the oath and then make money off the patients by not pursuing the optimal long term cure, opting for treatments or suboptimal alternatives.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 14 2017, @07:46PM (2 children)
If she took the Hippocratic oath but she's doing genital snips--which she denies doing? Unless she believes snipping is harmless, that's hypocritical. Because the Hippocratic oath goes something like "first, do no harm." If you take an oath to do no harm, then you do harm, that's hypocrisy. It's a broken promise. Bot was half-joking, I think, but it makes a point even so.
(Score: 3, Informative) by tangomargarine on Friday July 14 2017, @08:22PM (1 child)
According to Wikipedia it's a misconception that "first, do no harm" is actually in the Hippocratic Oath, but the sentiment definitely is.
I didn't think of it from that angle; thanks.
Apparently I misspelled "Hippocratic" as OP and missed it. D'oh.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by chromas on Friday July 14 2017, @10:56PM
Oh, no you don't! You can't just secede from the argument in a polite manner like that. Where are the insults? Where's the name calling?