A law to criminalise hymenoplastic surgery “virginity repair surgery”, has been introduced by the British government.
Following the amendment to the health care bill which was added on Monday, Jan. 24, any procedure that attempts to reconstruct the hymen will be termed illegal.
The purpose of this procedure is to recreate a woman’s hymen, thereby making her bleed when she next has sexual contact by creating a fake hymen using scar tissue.
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According to report a growing number of clinics, private hospitals, and pharmacies offer the controversial surgery promising the restoration of virginity and a large number of girls and young women forced into the procedure,
Since the government committed to criminalising virginity testing, campaigners, including doctors and midwives, had called for the surgery to be outlawed.
It is considered a form of violence against women and girls to engage in either of these practices.
The ban will provide vital protection to girls under family pressure, according to one British survivor of “honour” based abuse who was harassed by her parents for months into having the surgery.
Hymenoplasty can never be justified on medical grounds, says Dr Edward Morris, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
According to him they have been campaigning for the introduction of a ban on both virginity testing and hymenoplasty alongside women’s health and rights organisations, as both are inextricably linked with violence against women and girls.
Neither of these practices have a place in the medical world and should never be performed, he said adding that any time they learn that someone is performing these procedures, they will inform the General Medical Council so that appropriate action can be taken.
