Female Circumcision Increases Childbirth Risks: WHO Study

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2006-06-03 01:47pm

Female circumcision can complicate childbirth, leading to higher mortality among infants, officials from the World Health Organization said Friday.

It's estimated more than 100 million women and girls have had the procedure, also called female genital mutilation.

In cultures where it is accepted, female genital mutilation is practised by followers of all religious beliefs.

It is usually performed on girls before the age of 10 by a traditional practitioner with crude instruments and without anesthetic, the agency said.

It usually involves removal of the clitoris or other external genitalia for cultural or other non-therapeutic reasons.

Having health professionals perform the procedure to ensure it's done in a clean or safe setting endorses an unacceptable practice, said Joy Phumaphi, WHO assistant director general for family and community health.

"That is the worst possible thing we can do," Phumaphi told Reuters. "It is worse than turning a blind eye."

Researchers from the UN health agency studied data from some 28,000 women giving birth between November 2001 and March 2003 in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan.

Three-quarters of the women studied had some degree of genital mutilation.

Up to 20 out of every 1,000 babies born in Africa die as a direct result of their mothers' circumcision, the agency said.

Birth complications

Scars forming around the wound could cause an obstruction, prolonging labour, "which increases the risk of caesarean section, heavy bleeding, distress in the infant and stillbirth."

In Saturday's issue of the medical journal The Lancet, the researchers report women who had the procedure were up to:

* 31 per cent more likely to have a a caesarean delivery.
* 66 per cent likelier to have a baby that needed resuscitation.
* 55 per cent likelier to have a child who died before or after birth.

Female genital mutilation "is estimated to lead to an extra one or two perinatal deaths per 100 deliveries," the study said.

The more extensive the mutilation, the higher the risks, the study's authors found.

The excess risks remained after taking into account factors such as maternal age, education, socio-economic status and care after birth.

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2006-06-03 02:32pm

Well this bit of science will go a long way towards convincing those religious wackos who perform this shit to quit.

BloodAngel · Post by **BloodAngel** » 2006-06-03 02:36pm

Wicked Pilot wrote:Well this bit of science will go a long way towards convincing those religious wackos who perform this shit to quit.

That's given these same religious wackos even remotely believe in science.

Talanth · Post by **Talanth** » 2006-06-03 03:20pm

Wicked Pilot wrote:Well this bit of science will go a long way towards convincing those religious wackos who perform this shit to quit.

You realy think so? It's been prety high on both the moral and scientific grounds to get this stoped for years now, but cultural traditions are deep rooted and hard to change. Especialy in the trible cultures where this most often takes place. Once something has been going on for long enough many people won't *care* if it causes harm or not. It's the way things have always been, end of story.

NoXion · Post by **NoXion** » 2006-06-03 03:40pm

As if we needed more evidence of it's uselessness, it's a barbaric practice in the first place.

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2006-06-03 04:11pm

Hey now, mutilation is a small price to pay to keep little girls from becoming whores.

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2006-06-03 07:04pm

Maybe in order to stop genital mutilation we need to take a page from General Charles Napier when he participated in the abolition of Sati from British India:

General Charles James Napier wrote:You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.

rhoenix · Post by **rhoenix** » 2006-06-03 07:10pm

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:Maybe in order to stop genital mutilation we need to take a page from General Charles Napier when he participated in the abolition of Sati from British India:

Charles James Napier wrote:You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.

*chuckle*

I'd forgotten about that quote, I need to add that to my "good shit" collection. Thanks!

Also, more on-topic - I didn't know what "female circumcision" was a few years ago, so I looked it up, and almost wish I didn't. There is not a single medical or biological health issue that female circumcision would solve, that I've been able to see - worse, it creates those issues instead of solving them.

Then again, I can't really justify male circumcision either.

Post by **Broomstick** » 2006-06-03 08:58pm

Wicked Pilot wrote:Hey now, mutilation is a small price to pay to keep little girls from becoming whores.

Yes, that is precisely the attitude that allows this shit to continue.

(I also know you were being sarcastic)

Religion is not amenable to logic. Few, if any, of the guilty would look at this study and change their ways because of it.