This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Urology  • Bioterrorism  • Women's Sexual Function  • Women's Health, Other  • Alert me on articles by topic

Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 2006;296:272.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 126 words of the full text and any section headings.

Female genital mutilation—a practice involving partial or full removal of the labia, clitoris, or both—increases by 50% the likelihood that the woman or her baby will die during childbirth, according to a study by the World Health Organization (Banks E et al. Lancet. 2006;367:1835-1841).

Affected women were more likely to undergo cesarean section, to experience substantial postpartum blood loss, and to require an extended hospital stay, noted the researchers, who examined more than 28 000 pregnant women in 6 African countries. Risks were greater with more extensive genital cutting, the authors reported.

Female genital mutilation "remains a pressing human rights issue and reliable evidence about its harmful effects, especially on reproductive outcomes, should contribute to the abandonment of the practice," the authors said.