Vaginal piercings classed among ‘harmful procedures’ as FGM
Women with vaginal piercings are to be classed as having suffered female genital mutilation (FGM).
The Department of Health said it is “taking every precaution to record genital piercings that have been done within an abusive context” and the reporting regulations are in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO).
WHO classified piercing and incising among “harmful procedures” that are a type of FGM in guidelines published last year.
It comes as a report by MPs was released last week which said police, midwives and campaigners remain confused over whether so-called designer vagina operations fall within female genital mutilation laws.
The Government has previously said the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 does not contain any exemptions for cosmetic surgery and it has no plans to amend the legislation specifically to prohibit female genital cosmetic surgery.
In its report the Home Affairs Select Committee said the Act should be amended to make it clear female genital cosmetic surgery would be a criminal offence if conducted on girls under 18 without physical or mental health justification.
Some 170,000 women and girls are estimated to be living with FGM in the UK.
More than 2,600 women and girls who went through FGM have been treated by the NHS since last September with 499 women and girls with FGM seen in acute NHS trusts in England in January alone.
More than 200 FGM-related cases were investigated by the police nationally in the past five years.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: “While there are challenges in this area and adult women may have genital piercings, in some communities girls are forced to have them. The World Health Organisation has quite rightly defined this as a form of FGM.
“We are taking every precaution to record genital piercings that have been done within an abusive context.
“The new data collection will help build a picture of the scale and the nature of the problem we are facing. We are continually working on ways to improve and develop the NHS response to this terrible practice.”
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