Court Blocks Dallas
Woman's Deportation, Citing Threat of Mutilation >http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3617-2003Jan2.html
By Lee Hockstader
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 3, 2003; Page A06
AUSTIN, Jan. 2 -- A federal appeals court has
temporarily blocked the deportation of a Dallas woman who says she and her
3-year-old daughter, who was born in the United States, would be subjected
to genital mutilation if she were forced to return to her native Nigeria.
Calling female genital mutilation a form of
"torture," the U.S. Appeals Court for the 7th Circuit last Friday granted
Philomena Nwaokolo's request for a review of her case to ensure that her
toddler daughter is "not forced into exile to be tortured....."
_______________________________________________
On Politically Incorrect
(Friday, 3/29/02) the topic of female mutilation came up. Everyone was
ripping on the countries and people who condone it. Then actress
Katherine LaNasa (of the television sitcom Three Sisters) said something
like, "Let's stop knocking other countries when we condone mutilating
boys in America by circumcising them." The conversation got
quite heated and she kept talking about how we should not be allowed to
circumcise our children, saying how it is equal to female mutilation.
March 31, 2002--ANDY ROONEY:
The study of religion is a hobby of mine but I am more interested than
knowledgeable. Any practice can be perceived as religious if enough
people,
over a long period of time, believe it to be. This helps account for the
widespread acceptance of things like circumcision and genital
mutilation. Religions have always been concerned with sex in strange ways. Circumcision is an arcane rite in some religions that I never
understood.
Seinfeld--Season
5, Episode 69, (1992-3) The Bris
Kramer: We're not
talking about a manicure here. Don't believe them when
they tell you it
doesn't hurt. It hurts bad. It hurts really bad. Imagine,
this will be his
first memory. Of someone yanking the hat off his little
man. I know you love
your baby, but what kind of perverts would stand idly
by while a stranger
rips the cover off his 9-iron and then serve a catered
lunch?
___________________________________
Los Angeles
Times
Science File
Page A 12
January 21,
2002
EVEN
LITTLE STRESS HAS AN EFFECT, STUDY FINDS
Even relatively short periods of stress may leave brain cells
hypersensitive for weeks, according to a group of Israeli scientists who
are studying the biological roots of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Their
findings were discovered in mice and reported in the journal Science.
Exposing the animals to stress caused them to produce abnormal versions of
a brain protein called acetylcholinesterase, which normally helps chemical
messages jump between neurons.
___________________________________
PBS special on the brain also pointed out how plastic and open to
influences the young brain is.
___________________________________
Letters supporting North Carolina's
dropping of Medicaid payments for
infant circumcision:
Two
letters published 11/3/01, in Raleigh's News and Observer
Circumcision
of infant males constitutes medically non-indicated removal of
healthy tissue from a non-consenting minor. While parents may legally
consent to the procedure, they must realize that they are doing so for
reasons of cultural preference, not for the health interests of the
child,
who may later hold them responsible for causing them permanent bodily
harm.
No
major medical association in this country or any other recommends the
practice. As a North Carolina taxpayer and concerned citizen I applaud
the
decision of the General Assembly to remove circumcision from Medicare
coverage. This decision, and the evidence on which it was based, should
now
be reviewed carefully by private health insurance providers, who
continue to
pay physicians, at subscriber expense, to carry out this unnecessary
elective surgery.
Grant
Jones
Davidson
_____________________________________
I
was literally dancing in my office when I read that Medicaid won't cover
circumcision of healthy baby boys. I have always been offended that I am
forced to pay for the removal of healthy tissue because parents are
disgusted
by the way God created their sons. What about informed consent? My son
can
have his penis circumcised, tattooed and pierced if he wants, but I'm
not
going to make that decision for him.
Evelyn
Walker
Charlotte
_____________________________________
Boy Wins $1.4 Million for Circumcision
as Procedure
Becomes Increasingly Risky for Physicians to Perform
Attorneys for the Rights of the Child
2961 Ashby Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94705
A Sacramento, California jury awarded $1.42
million to a 7-year old boy for a botched circumcision. The circumcision
was performed by a first-year resident at the Medical Center of the
University of California at Davis.
The amount far exceeds the $250,000 legal
limit in California medical malpractice cases. The court held that this
limit was not applicable due to the hospital’s failure to obtain the
parents’ permission to perform the procedure. Following the injury to
the boy, the hospital attempted to induce the parents to sign a consent
form.
This is the latest in several significant
resolutions in circumcision cases, including a 1998 court award of
800,000 pounds (then worth $1.3 million) in the United Kingdom and a
settlement of a contentious New Jersey circumcision dispute between
divorced parents in which the judge convinced the mother to agree to
cease her efforts to circumcise the child.
J. Steven Svoboda, Executive Director of Attorneys for the Rights of the
Child, commented, "No national medical association in the world
approves neonatal circumcision, and for good reason. This procedure
serves no genuine purpose and certainly provides no health benefit
justifying the potential for significant complications. The poor child
in this case had the bad luck to discover this first hand. We can only
hope that others will learn from his trauma and circumcision will soon
be put to rest along with other outdated practices."____________________________________________________
Female
Circumcision is Not Harmful, Says MP
The
Nation (Nairobi)
December 4, 2001
Onderi Kebati
Female
circumcision is good and should not be stopped, an MP claimed
over
the weekend.
Kitutu-Chache
MP Jimmy Angwenyi also declared that he was ready to
finance
girls willing to be circumcised in his constituency.
Mr
Angwenyi said the rite was important to the community as it marked a
new
stage in life, adding that nobody should harass those taking their daughters
for circumcision.
He
warned that nobody or any amount of intimidation would stop the
community
from pursuing its cultural heritage.
"Amongst the Abagusi community, the idea of female genital
mutilation
does
not exist as girls simply go for a minor cut of the clitoris,"
explained
Mr
Angwenyi.
On
the spread of Aids, Mr Angwenyi said the solution lay in abstinence
and
seeking divine intervention.
The
MP was speaking at Tambach Secondary School in his constituency
during
a funds drive for the school.
Elsewhere,
in Marakwet District, a women's meeting was disrupted at the
weekend on suspicion that it was opposed to the female cut.
A
group of men and women stormed Chugor Primary School and pelted
classes
with stones, accusing delegates and organisers of interfering with
their
tradition.
In
the stampede that ensued, several people including a male assistant
chief who had attended the opening session of the seminar, were injured.
The one-week workshop was jointly organised by Africa Inland and
Catholic
churches.
The attackers were armed with crude weapons.
__________________________________________
May 13, 2001: NOCIRC founder wins
nursing award!
Hi Everyone,
We won!
More than 500 nurses and their families were at the
awards dinner last night. The program began with a salad course and Nurseweek
officials who introduced the event and its sponsors, including Little
Company of Mary Hospital, SHARP HealthCare of San Diego, UCLA School of
Nursing, Kaiser Permanente (wait til Schoen hears about this!), Valley
Children's Hospital, Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, and Memorial
Hospitals Association (A Sutter Health Affiliate).
After dinner, the five to eight finalists in each
category were announced, one by one -- with a short description of each
person's work, and they were asked to join one another they returned to
their seats, and the next category of finalists was introduced. This
went on through all eight categories, including the one in which I was
nominated--patient advocacy.
When my name was called, introducing me as a finalist
--associated with the word circumcision -- there were mumblings around
the room. My husband said the people sitting
a couple of tables away from us were snickering and
smirking...
This is what I
said, after thanking NurseWeek and its sponsors for the
lovely event, honoring the work of men and women who have
dedicated their lives to service and acknowledging the work
that is being done to make the world a better place:
"I want to especially thank those who find my work worthy because it's not
easy to challenge the dominant paradigm, the status quo, or the current
medical model and, by recognizing my work, you are really honoring the
children: those patients who truly need our advocacy because they are
not yet able to protect themselves.
"It was 22 years ago this month that, as a nursing
student, I first witnessed a circumcision. I will go to my grave hearing
the screams of that tormented baby in my ears. As I watched in
disbelief, I began to cry. The doctor looked up at me and said,
"There is no medical reason for doing this." Within a year,
I'd done enough research to know that the doctor was right, and I began
telling everyone what I had learned only to realize that I was talking
about "down there" to people who didn't want to admit they had
a "down there" much less hear about the harm and horror of
circumcision.
"As a nurse, I told parents what I wished someone
had told me before my sons were circumcised. I thought every parent had
a right and an obligation to be fully informed. I was told to keep my
mouth shut. So, I made a video of a circumcision for parents. I was told
it was too much for parents to see.
I said, "Perhaps, then, it's too much for a baby to
endure!" The video was censored, and, in 1985, I got the ultimate
censorship: I was fired….
I accept this award on behalf of the infants and children
who need our protection. Your recognition of their need and my work lets
me know that we're closer to winning.
"Thank you."
There was no snickering after that.
Nurses from a hospital in Modesto, California, are on the
verge of becoming conscientious objectors. They were thrilled to hear
about NRC. I'll be sending them lots of material -- including the NRC
fliers -- on Monday. Others came to me with personal stories. The
evening was profound.
The photos of all the finalists will be on the cover of
next week's NurseWeek magazine. It goes to more than 30,000
California nurses -- including the nurses at the College of Marin School
of Nursing (who have yet to recognize this graduate) and Marin General
Hospital (who are responsible for liberating this talkative
crusader...).
We did it! We are closer to winning! I hope you will all
rejoice with me….
Love, Marilyn
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Stowell Case