Source: bluecinema / Getty Just when you thought the world couldn’t get anymore disgusting, it does. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman ruled that the U.S. law banning female genital mutilation was unconstitutional and dismissed charges against several doctors in Michigan who carried out the procedure on underage girls as part Muslim sect’s religious practice. The Detroit Free Press reports: The judge’s ruling also dismissed charges against three mothers, including two Minnesota women whom prosecutors said tricked their 7 -year-old daughters into thinking they were coming to metro Detroit for a girls’ weekend, but instead had their genitals cut at a Livonia clinic as part of a religious procedure. U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman concluded that “as despicable as this practice may be,” Congress did not have the authority to pass the 22-year-old federal law that criminalizes female genital mutilation, and that FGM is for the states to regulate. FGM is banned worldwide and has been outlawed in more than 30 countries, though the U.S. statute had never been tested before this case. Female Genital Mutilation is punishable by up to 15 years behind bars in 27 states, including Michigan. But Judge Friedman’s ruling could have an unfortunate ripple effect, normalizing the horrid procedure and causing other states to follow suit. SMH.
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Sick: Federal Judge Makes Female Genital Mutilation Legal Again
