Linda Harvey
It sometimes seems the American medical profession now has a sub-specialty called “witch doctors.”
When you think about the barbaric and inhumane practices which have now become routine, especially those involving children, you can’t help but imagine that Hippocrates as well as The Great Physician watch in horror.
Some “healers” dismember viable babies in late term abortions and even sell infant body parts for profit. Others administer drugs to middle schoolers to grossly distort naturally-maturing inborn sex characteristics. “Progressive” surgeons castrate disease-free young males and perform mastectomies on healthy females, even those still in their teens, under the delusion of altering gender.
And then there’s the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM). Girls as young as six or seven years old– and sometimes even infants– are forced by their parents to submit to doctors or midwives, even here in America, who then cut the girls’ genital area (labia and clitoris) for non-medical reasons. Sometimes, the vaginal opening is stitched closed until marriage. It is euphemistically called “female circumcision.”
Why would anyone do such a thing? And who is at most risk?
Estimates are that hundreds of thousands of girls in the U.S. have been subjected to this abuse, and more are now at risk as immigrant populations rise, unless concerted action is taken to prevent these atrocities.
It’s not historically a Western practice, because Judeo-Christian cultures consider such mutilation child abuse. It’s a custom of Muslim, African and Indonesian cultures where patriarchal superstition perpetuates folk beliefs about the “need” for such cutting, even that it improves a female’s fertility, when the reality is often the opposite.
FGM can be medically harmful to the girl, with complications for her urinary tract as well as subsequent pregnancy and childbirth. Yet this foolish practice continues. Essentially, it’s a misogynistic tool to limit a female’s enjoyment of sexual intercourse, even with her future husband, and it is believed that to leave a girl uncut is a looming threat.
It’s hard to imagine such primitive thinking, or that there might be doctors in the U.S. with large immigrant patient loads or quasi-medical practitioners eager to accommodate such human rights abuse.
It all comes down to insecure men who need to control sisters and wives, and even the future happiness of tiny daughters. Mothers and grandmothers who themselves endured this mutilation buy into the grand deception and coerce their own daughters and granddaughters into submitting to the “circumciser.”
Their screams should be a clue: these assaults are deeply unjust and should never, ever happen.
The cultural pressure on females to cooperate with FGM is enormous. Yet some women are bucking this abuse. Activist groups like Safe Hands for Girls are working in the U.S. and in the U.K., Daughters of Eve is fighting this practice.
Equality Now claims that 200 million women and girls globally have been subjected to female genital mutilation. Others put the figure lower at 130 million. In some countries, most of the females have been mutilated in this way. In Gambia, it is estimated that 78% of girls there have undergone FGM.
FGM is very prevalent in Somalia, Ethiopia, Egypt, West Africa and many Muslim-dominated countries, and these immigrants believe they have a right to continue this practice here in America.
It’s another indicator about the urgent need for immigrant populations to assimilate and learn American constitutional freedoms centered around genuine human rights.
FGM is illegal under federal law in the U.S, subject to fine or imprisonment of up to five years. It’s also against the law in the U.K. and opposed by the World Health Organization.
But it’s still happening under the radar, sometimes performed quietly in back rooms by semi-skilled health workers. Sometimes families return to their native countries over school vacations to have the female child cut.
Complicating prevention efforts, however, is the rise of female genital cosmetic surgery. There is a rise in popularity of plastic surgery to remove part of the labia, and many think it’s a response to pornography, an attempt to look anatomically like porn stars. Adult women can give consent, but the bad news is that it allows surgeons to specialize in such procedures and possibly sneak in a few non-consenting, minor girl patients on the side.
Let’s always remember that physicians are not the gods we often make them out to be. They are humans, subject to the temptations of greed and other sins. And they sometimes have beliefs that don’t exactly line up with authentic human rights. Examples abound, including abortionists; pediatricians who condone or recommend abortions for young teen girls; or physicians who affirm the destructive desires of homosexuality or gender confusion.
A pro-life, pro-family pediatrics group, the American College of Pediatricians, has formed just for that reason: the corruption of some major specialty groups (e.g., the American Academy of Pediatrics) and the accommodation to harmful political correctness.
And as leftist politicians often overlook the many forms of violence advanced by some adherents of Islam, it’s no surprise certain doctors will also look the other way when FGM is a known issue.
It’s another example where stupid, harmful fads can be championed even by highly educated people.
How can we end the horrific procedure of FGM? It’s important to educate women and girls that this procedure should never be performed. Public health officials, school nurses, social workers, pastors, and law enforcement personnel also need to be advised about indicators that this abuse may be about to occur.
But it’s ultimately a matter of the heart. Those in a position to stop it must be persuaded it’s not a “cultural tradition” but a grave and preventable injustice to vulnerable girls.
And that includes doctors– no matter how awesome their resumes look.
God is probably not impressed with highly educated child corrupters. They are still witch doctors.
Linda Harvey, President, Mission America
The media ministry of Linda Harvey is an outgrowth of her Christian faith and a successful career in marketing and public relations.
As a former advertising executive, Mrs. Harvey specialized in creating new communications’ vehicles. She has started more than twenty-five publications and overseen multi-million dollar advertising campaigns, primarily in the health care field. She was formerly Director of Marketing Communications at Ohio State University Hospitals.
In 1995, she founded Mission America, a Christian pro-family organization tracking current cultural issues with weekly e-newsletters sent to a national audience.
Linda hosts daily commentaries and a weekly radio show on the Salem Network station in Columbus, OH, 880 AM WRFD which broadcasts throughout the state, and airs a weekly commentary on the national Moody Radio Network. She is also a regular columnist for conservative news site www.WND.com , for www.AmericanThinker.com, for www.barbwire.com, and for www.ohioconservativereview.com .
She is interviewed frequently by local, state and national media outlets, and is author of two Christian books, Maybe He’s Not Gay: Another View on Homosexuality and Not My Child: Contemporary Paganism and the New Spirituality.
In addition, Linda is a frequent conference speaker, with presentations at events sponsored by Concerned Women for America, Focus on the Family, Heartbeat International, American Family Association, EPC (the Education Policy Conference), Americans for Truth and TruthXChange. She has also spoken to many Ohio Tea Party groups..
Mrs. Harvey attended a United Nations international conference as a media representative; has participated in a briefing on Capitol Hill; and has testified numerous times before Ohio legislative committees. She serves on the National Pro-Family Forum and the Ohio Pro-Family Forum.
Linda Harvey holds a B.A. in English from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and has done graduate work at Miami, Ohio State University, and Trinity Lutheran Seminary. She is the wife of Tom Harvey and the mother of two children. They live in Columbus, Ohio.
