 ASYLUM NEWS: MEDICAL GUIDELINES ISSUED ON FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION
This month the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has released the first clinical guidelines for physicians dealing with female genital mutilation (FGM). The guidelines are being accompanied by a manual “Caring for Women with Circumcision,” written by Nahid Toubia, the first female surgeon in Sudan, now a professor at Columbia University. Both the guidelines and the manual are part of the education campaign Congress called for in 1997 when it passed a law making FGM a federal crime.
FGM is an ancient tradition, and while against the law in most countries where it is practiced, it is so much a part of cultural tradition that the practice continues, primarily in Central African countries. The practice is thought to control female sexuality and ensure virginity upon marriage. The medical effects are often horrendous, including difficult childbirth, chronic urinary tract infections, and pain during sex and menstruation. Over the last few years, fear of FGM has successfully been used by asylum applicants.
With the increasing numbers of immigrants from Africa, doctors in the US are seeing more and more cases of FGM, formerly an uncommon sight in the US. Part of the purpose of the guidelines and manual is to inform US doctors about the complex motives for the practice. One of the biggest issues US doctors face is dealing with the young daughters of families for whom the practice is a cultural tradition. Often the family wishes her to have the procedure, which is medically dangerous.
Hopefully the new resources will make it easier for doctors to deal sensitively with their patients who have undergone FGM, and to help them reach the medically correct treatment decision.
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