Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Michigan Increases Penalties for Female Genital Mutilation Following Detroit Criminal Case

posted by martyb on Friday July 14 2017, @03:25PM   Printer-friendly
from the cut-it-out! dept.

takyon writes:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/07/12/536863961/michigan-laws-will-increase-penalties-for-performing-female-genital-mutilation

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.

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Michigan Increases Penalties for Female Genital Mutilation Following Detroit Criminal Case | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 120 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Friday July 14 2017, @06:31PM (5 children)

    by Osamabobama (5842) on Friday July 14 2017, @06:31PM (#539258)

    Let's say children, and agree not to quibble about the age of majority in Egypt (emphasis mine):

    Prevalence figures for the 15–19 age group and younger show a downward trend. For example, Burkina Faso fell from 89 percent (1980) to 58 percent (2010); Egypt from 97 percent (1985) to 70 percent (2015); and Kenya from 41 percent (1984) to 11 percent (2014).

    From the Wikipedia entry on female genital mutilation [wikipedia.org].

    And here's a little bit more about the data:

    UNICEF 2013: "The percentage of girls and women of reproductive age (15 to 49) who have experienced any form of FGM/C is the first indicator used to show how widespread the practice is in a particular country ... A second indicator of national prevalence measures the extent of cutting among daughters aged 0 to 14, as reported by their mothers. Prevalence data for girls reflect their current – not final – FGM/C status, since many of them may not have reached the customary age for cutting at the time of the survey. They are reported as being uncut but are still at risk of undergoing the procedure. Statistics for girls under age 15 therefore need to be interpreted with a high degree of caution ..."
    An additional complication in judging prevalence among girls is that, in countries running campaigns against FGM, women might not report that their daughters have been cut.

    --
    Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Friday July 14 2017, @06:40PM (4 children)

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Friday July 14 2017, @06:40PM (#539265) Journal

    I would never have guessed it was that prevalent in Egypt. Holy shit.

    https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FGM_prevalence_UNICEF_2016.svg [wikimedia.org]

    2016:

    (don't emulate) Somalia 98%
    Djibouti (home of the foreign militaries) 93%
    Egypt 87%
    Sudan 87%
    Yemen 19%
    Iraq 8%

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by KiloByte on Friday July 14 2017, @09:40PM (2 children)

      by KiloByte (375) on Friday July 14 2017, @09:40PM (#539352)

      And MGM in United States: 71% [nih.gov], for boys born in the 70's: 91%.

      You can expect a fourth-world hellhole like Somalia to cut little kids' genitalia, but such barbarous practice in a supposedly civilized country is unforgivable.

      --
      Ceterum censeo systemd esse delendam.

      • (Score: 2) by cafebabe on Saturday July 15 2017, @05:15PM (1 child)

        by cafebabe (894) on Saturday July 15 2017, @05:15PM (#539585) Journal

        So, the figures for genital mutilation should be:-

        Somalia: 49%
        Djibouti: 46%
        Egypt: 43%
        Sudan: 43%
        USA: 35%
        Yemen: 9%
        Iraq: 4%

        --
        1702845791×2

        • (Score: 3, Informative) by KiloByte on Sunday July 16 2017, @01:57AM

          by KiloByte (375) on Sunday July 16 2017, @01:57AM (#539739)

          Somalia also mutilates 93% of men, so total genital mutilation is 95.5% (gender population ratio in Somalia is roughly balanced).

          Among these countries, Sudan is the only outlier with "only" 47% MGM, the rest are in 90%s.

          --
          Ceterum censeo systemd esse delendam.

    • (Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday July 15 2017, @01:50PM

      by Bot (3902) on Saturday July 15 2017, @01:50PM (#539541) Journal

      > (don't emulate) Somalia 98%
      > Djibouti (home of the foreign militaries) 93%
      > Egypt 87%
      > Sudan 87%
      > Yemen 19%
      > Iraq 8%

      hmmm this is not the chart they picked when deciding where to export democracy to.

      --
      Account abandoned.