Egyptian Girl Dies in Circumcision

CAIRO, Egypt -

A 13-year-old Egyptian girl has died during a circumcision operation, two months after the death of another girl prompted health officials to ban the widespread traditional procedure, local media said Saturday.

In June, the death of 12-year-old Badour Shaker during a circumcision operation in the southern town of Maghagh sparked a public outcry, prompting the government to officially ban hospitals from performing female circumcisions...

The Egyptian Health Ministry said violators would be punished, but did not specify the penalty. The ban is not as enforceable as a law, which requires passage in the national legislature...

While top clerics insist the practice has nothing to do with Islam, parents, especially in rural villages and Cairo slums, believe they are helping their daughters by protecting their virginity before marriage...

A 2003 survey by UNICEF said that 97 percent of married women in Egypt have undergone genital mutilation. A recent study by Egypt's Ministry of Health and Population found that only half of all girls between the age of 10-18 years have been circumcised.

Yes let's protect their virginity at all costs, even life. Better for them to be dead than to "disgrace the family." And of course no one cares if a man is a virgin or not. No, let's let them do whatever the hell they want.

Why do I think that he won't really be punished? A slap on the wrist, don't do this again, kind of thing. 97% of married women have had this done to them? This is really sad.