Egypt Bans Female Circumcision After Death of 12-year-old

According to Associated Press, Egypt has banned the practice of circumcising females after the tragic death of a young girl resulting from the genital mutilation.

The 12-year-old Egyptian girl named Badour Shaker was taken to a physician at an illegal clinic last month to be circumcised. Her mother reportedly paid the female doctor $9 to cut off her daughters' clitoris, something commonly done in their culture. The mother Zeniab Abdel Ghani told a local newspaper that the physician offered her $3,000 after her daughter died to keep her from going further with a lawsuit.

The cause of death has been determined to be anesthesia related as the girl was found to have overdosed during the procedure. In the past, infections, bleeding, complications during child birth and more deadly reactions have occurred as the result of female circumcision.

Thursday, the Egyptian Ministry for Health released a statement saying it is "prohibited for any doctors, nurses, or any other person to carry out any cut of, flattening or modification of any natural part of the female reproductive system, either in government hospitals, non-government hospitals or any other places."

So far the ban is not a law making female circumcision illegal. For that to occur it would have to be brought up to legislation and passed nationally. The punishment for performing female circumcision was not clearly expressed but the ban was said to be enforced.

According to a survey done by UNICEF in 2003 97% of married females were circumcised in Egypt. And at least 50% of girls ages 10-18 have undergone the mutilating procedure. Those who practice this painful and life changing removal of body parts, do so because they believe it makes calms the females sexual desire and will keep her loyal to her husband or future husband. Often the clitoris is removed as well as other surrounding areas of the female reproductive organs.