America's First FGM Case Falls Flat on Its Face

There are now no laws against FGM in USA

Law that outlawed female genital mutilation unconstitutional,

charges dropped against doctor

Max White, Scott Anderson

A federal judge has dismissed several charges against Dr. Jumana Nagarwala in the historic female genital mutilation case, ruling that the federal law against female genital mutilation is unconstitutional.

U.S. District Court Judge Bernard Friedman ruled that Congress did not have the power to enact a federal law that banned female genital mutilation in the United States.

Instead, Friedman made the argument that the law was too broad and it violated Congress' powers, as the law does not stand up to scrutiny under either the Necessary and Proper Clause or the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution.

He also found that laws penalizing Female Genital Mutilation should be handled at the state level, similar to laws regarding Criminal Sexual Conduct, battery or child abuse.  

Shannon Smith is the Defense Attorney for Dr. Nagarwala.  

She says the ruling is "absolutely a huge victory. When you actually studied the law they enacted, there was no constitutional basis for them to enact the law. It’s really an issue that should be left to the states."

Smith also claims the doctors did not perform Female Genital Mutilation, saying instead they performed a mild form of female circumcision.

There is no valid reason for female circumcision; it is neither cosmetic nor medicinal. It does nothing for the girl except to reduce her enjoyment of sex and thereby improve her cahnces of entering marriage as a virgin. The advantage of that is that she will get a higher price or a more desirable partner. This is more important in areas of great poverty than in America, but has become a tradition that has no place in the industrialized world.

"What Dr. Nagarwala was doing, if we had gone to trial, would have been vindicated that she was not mutilating little girls. While we’re happy with the victory and we’ll certainly take it, there’s a part of me that’s a little disappointed that the public isn’t going to see the evidence brought out at a trial to see that she was never guilty of it in the first place," Smith said.

The ruling comes after Friedman also dismissed a "conspiracy to transport minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity" charge in January. That was the only count that could have lead to life in prison for both Nagarwala and Dr. Fakhruddin Attar.

Attar provided the facilities for Nagarwala to do her business.

Friedman's ruling leaves two counts in place in the case. Nargarwala is charged with "conspiracy to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct," and four of the defendants are charged with conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.

How can he leave the conspiracy charge in place when he has eliminated the 'illicit sexual conduct'? That makes no sense to me. I expect it will get thrown out and all that will be left of all the FGM charges is a conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. 

Islam wins; girls lose! What else is new?

Egyptian Girl Dies During Banned Female Genital Mutilation Operation

Authorities investigate after 17-year-old died under

general anaesthetic in a private hospital,

despite FGM being illegal in the country

Unicef says at least 200 million women worldwide have been subjected to genital mutilation.
Photograph: UNICEF/ASSELIN/EPA

Agence France-Presse

Egyptian prosecutors are investigating the death of a teenage girl during a female genital mutilation operation at a private hospital.

Mayar Mohamed Mousa, 17, died in a hospital in the province of Suez on Sunday while under full anaesthesia, said Lotfi Abdel-Samee, the local health ministry undersecretary.

Suez, Egypt

“This is something that the law has prohibited,” stressed Abdel-Samee.

Despite the ban in 2008, female genital mutilation (FGM) is still widespread in Egypt, especially in rural areas. It is practised among Muslims as well as Egypt’s minority Christians.

The law led to the first prison sentence against a doctor in Egypt in January 2015, with the girl’s father in that case given a three-month suspended sentence.

The doctor in that case never served a day in prison; he settled with the family. In most Islamic states that's all that's required, even for murder. See Suhair al Bataa, below.

On Sunday, Mousa’s sister had just undergone the operation before she was sent in for surgery.

The girls’ mother is a nurse, while their late father was a surgeon. The operation was being carried out by a registered female doctor, according to Abdel-Samee.

Authorities shut down the hospital on Monday after transferring patients to other hospitals as prosecutors questioned the hospital manager and medical staff involved in the operation, Abdel-Samee said.

They have also spoken to the mother, a prosecution official said.

The case was opened after a health inspector reported the circumstances of the girl’s death.

Medical examiners have carried out an autopsy, and are due to report the cause of death, said Abdel-Samee.

While 200 million women and girls worldwide have been subjected to the practise, there have been major strides in Egypt, as well as Liberia, Burkina Faso, and Kenya against FGM, according to Claudia Cappa, the lead author of a February UN children’s agency report on the issue.

“The latest figures from the Egypt Demographic and Health Survey show that we’re winning,” the United Nations Development Programme said in a report last year.

“Mothers’ attitudes are changing, too,” UNDP said.

While 92% of mothers had undergone the procedure, only 35% of them “intend to circumcise their daughters,” according to the UNDP report.

Victims of the procedure are left to cope with a range of consequences from bleeding and pain while urinating, extreme discomfort during sex, fatal complications in childbirth and deep psychological trauma.

In 2013, Suhair al Bataa, also died from an FGM procedure in an Egyptian hospital. She was 13 years old.