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) by lgsoynews on Friday July 14 2017, @06:16PM (2 children)
Not that rare.
I'm french (and not Jewish, my family is atheist). I'm lucky enough to have escaped the moronic doctors' scalpel, but my younger brother was circoncised -for no medical reason- as a baby. I think at the time those MORONS thought it was some hygienic measure, despite the fact that it's well, total B.S.
So, about 40 years ago, it was done in France.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by MostCynical on Friday July 14 2017, @10:05PM
While some reasons are purely cultural, there are medical grounds for male circumcision.
Male circumcision can help limit HIV transmission http://www.catie.ca/en/fact-sheets/prevention/penile-circumcision-reduce-risk-hiv-infection [catie.ca]
And has been shown to have up 73% curative effect on the auto-immune disease BXO.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday July 14 2017, @11:34PM
Uh, what? I'm Murrican, and my totally non-homosexual observations throughout the years yield a best guess across all my definitely non-Jew friends and sports teammates of 95% circumcised. I am not and considered it in my adult years because foreskin is ugly as fuck. It reminds me of an elephant's trunk, or a housefly's proboscis. Only problem is that once it's gone, there's no getting it back (disregarding some bullshit phoney procedure which is nothing like the real thing).
When I was bored and alone I used to play with it like it were chewing gum, rolling it up in a pencil or blousing it back inward on itself.
There is some truth about it regarding matters of cleanliness, but it's like any other part of your body in that it's clean if you wash it regularly, unclean if you don't.