Death By a Thousand Cuts

Last month, a 10-year-old Somali girl bled to death as a direct result of being subjected to female genital mutilation. In Somalia, FGM is not outlawed and is universally practiced, despite its enormous serious health consequences.

The 10-year-old was rushed to a local hospital and Dr. Abdirahman Omar Hassan, the doctor who treated her, described her injuries:

“Her whole female genital tract had been removed...it’s type 4 FGM,” he said. “She was brought in two days after they cut her, she was already infected with tetanus. I have never seen this kind of mutilation. And I have treated many bad FGM cases here because it is so common. She was bleeding and convulsing. We tried to save her, but she died an hour later.”

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