Sunday, June 6, 2010

Genital Nicking--Danger of Moral Relativism Still Remains

Click on the title for a great article and updates concerning the recent issue with Female Genital Mutilation.  Apparently the American Academy of Pediatrics was not the only medical organization that took stupid pills over this issue.  Looks like the Royal Australian New Zealand College of Obstetricians is considering the "nicking option" as well!!  The forces to bear on this issue would have you think that it is a global phenomenon, that everybody is thinking about it, everybody should be doing it.  They would have you think it's ok to mutilate genitals in the name of cultural diversity, tolerance and acceptance.  They would have you think that nicking is a far more suitable solution than having the girls undergo more brutal procedures.  The truth is, policies reflecting this kind of thinking clearly are developed more to provide physicians a way out of a complicated situation than to protect patients.  Thankfully the AAP  revised theirs and I hope this sends a message to the rest of the medical world that all forms of FGM are completely unacceptable.  Still this raises very troubling questions of why the AAP Ethics Committee even "went there" in the first place.  If the welfare of young girls and women had truly been foremost in their minds, nicking would have--should have-- never been an issue.   I agree with Ms Ziganto, the author of the article, that we must never ever allow ourselves to "embrace barbarity in the name of cultural diversity and tolerance."   Some things are just plain wrong.

No comments: