Type I: Type I is the excision (removal) of the clitoral hood with or without removal of all or part of the clitoris.
Type II: Type II is the excision (removal) of the clitoris together with part or all of the labia minora (the inner vaginal lips).
Type III: Type III is the excision (removal) of part or all of the external genitalia (clitoris, labia minora and labia majora) and stitching or narrowing of the vaginal opening, leaving a very small opening, about the size of a matchstick, to allow for the flow of urine and menstrual blood. The girl or woman's legs are then bound together from the hip to the ankle so she remains immobile for approximately 40 days to allow for the formation of scar tissue.
Type IV: Type IV includes the pricking, piercing or incision of the clitoris and/or labia. In Ethiopia the "Mariam Girz" involves blood letting with a sharp needle performed on girls with a stunted clitoris who are assumed to have been already circumcised by St. Mary.
Yes, I do know what FGM is. What was done to these young girls is not something I approve of at all, but neither is it anywhere the worst of what is described above. If it was the horrendous mutilation that most of the posters on the thread are imagining - about as accurately as they imagine the sex of the perpetrator - then the FBI report would not have described it as follows:
From the Detroit News article:
The FBI investigation alleges Nagarwala removed clitoral skin from two girls who were brought to Detroit earlier this year, activity that violates both federal and state law regarding female genital mutilation.
“Finally, the doctor observed some scar tissue and small healing lacerations,” the agent wrote. (the first girl)
"A subsequent medical exam showed the girl’s genitalia had a small incision and a small tear." (the second girl)
No missing clitoris or labia. No vagina sewn together.
From the FBI report itself, available here: http://www.wxyz.com/news/detroit-emergency-room-doctor-charged-with-child-genital-mutilation
Victim 2’s “clitoral hood has a small incision, and there is a small tear to her labia minora.”
Victim 1’s “labia minora has been altered or removed, and her clitoral hood is also abnormal in appearance. Finally, the doctor observed some scar tissue and some small healing lacerations.”
Both of the girls are from Minnesota. We can guess Somali. In Somalia, nearly all the girls have undergone FGM, and most have undergone the worst kind. I can imagine an anti-FGM activist in Minnesota, knowing she can’t eradicate the practice, but seeking to mitigate it, sending the families who don’t want the whole awful thing done down to Detroit, where a nice lady doctor will make a symbolic incision or two in antiseptic conditions with a little local anesthesia, and the families can go back to Minnesota and assure the community, that, yes, it’s been done.
The government has a zero-tolerance policy but those on the front lines may resort to compromise. And maybe the government is right, because the compromisers on the front lines dealing with the hard cases gave us abortion on demand 45 years ago.
The entire point of the procedure is to impair fuctioning of healthy tissue. I don’t care if it’s done in a posh surgical suit by a high price surgeon. The purpose is to impair functioning for a barbarous reason. That’s mutilation in my book.