A study conducted by the German TV channel “Deutsche Welle” noted that Hysterectomy (the phenomenon of removing the uterus) of the mentally disabled woman in Jordan goes way back in time and that the parents consider this to be a precautionary step that could protect the girl from the harmful consequences of any sexual offenses, at a time no clear official statements are issued amidst calls for making legislations that could control this phenomenon.
The parents of the mentally disabled females defend what they consider their right to remove the uteri of their daughters because of their mental disability and the sensitivity of dealing with them as they reach puberty. In the meantime, studies reveal that the main reason for this procedure is related to the crimes of honor that leave behind a “social stigma” if those mentally disabled females were raped and got pregnant…
Head of “I am a Human” Society, Asia Yaghi, said that through her interaction with the families of the mentally disabled girls, she got to know that the parents complain from their daughters’ inability to look after themselves during their menstrual cycles, not to mention the fatigue and exhaustion that their mothers or sisters suffer from due to the need for serving them, especially if there are more than one mentally disabled child within the same family. Moreover, some parents consider that there is no need for the uterus, since the mentally disabled female will not get married.
Yaghi also considers that the phenomenon of removing the uterus increases the possibility of rape; thus, aggravating the repercussions both at the social and health levels…
Moreover, Maha Al-Mas’oudi, President of the Woman Committee at the Supreme Council for Disability Affairs, said in an interview that the act of removing the uteri of the mentally disabled girls has religious aspects that forbid it and legal aspects that consider the parents not entitled to decide on behalf of their daughters, in addition to health-related dangers and side effects for removing the uterus. She added that the phenomenon is prevalent in Amman and other big Jordanian cities, and among all the classes of the society, as they take place in the private and official hospitals, knowing that the unofficial number of these operations is estimated at 260 from 2007 till 2010…
Al-Mas’oudi regards the operations of removing the uterus as a “violation to the rights and dignity of mentally disabled girls”…
On another level, the official parties have not adopted yet any policies that offer adequate health services and efficient legal protection to the disabled…
Dr. Ahmad Al-Armouti, President of Jordan Medical Association, said that most of the hysterectomy procedures are operated in governmental hospitals and that the surgeon performs them based on the request of the parents, who live mostly in a poor society. He also clarified that the Jordan Medical Association has set strict conditions for performing hysterectomy, including a report from a psychologist and a neurologist, as well as a report from a gynecologist that states that this condition necessitates hysterectomy…
The main question here is: "Do we have the right to manipulate man’s body even if he was disabled in any way knowing that this could harm him psychologically and health-wise?! Do we have such a right knowing that we should look after and protect the people, especially the disabled, to protect them and safeguard their human dignity?!
On the religious level, it is forbidden to manipulate the other’s body in what could harm him, whether by his consent or not, and whether the one approving performing the act is the guardian or not, except in what necessitates a medical treatment determined according to the individual’s health condition. As for the underage children who require the presence of a guardian to handle their affairs, it is impermissible to defect their bodies in any way or remove any part of them, such as removing the girl’s uterus; an act that cannot be justified by protecting her from being raped and getting pregnant. On the contrary, it is our duty to protect them, just as we protect our healthy children.
This issue is indisputable according to the rules and standards adopted in our religious opinion, which deems forbidden the acts of harming and damaging the other, as well as committing violence and offending the other’s dignity and properties…
[The juristic office of His Eminence, the late Religious Authority, Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah (ra)]
A study conducted by the German TV channel “Deutsche Welle” noted that Hysterectomy (the phenomenon of removing the uterus) of the mentally disabled woman in Jordan goes way back in time and that the parents consider this to be a precautionary step that could protect the girl from the harmful consequences of any sexual offenses, at a time no clear official statements are issued amidst calls for making legislations that could control this phenomenon.
The parents of the mentally disabled females defend what they consider their right to remove the uteri of their daughters because of their mental disability and the sensitivity of dealing with them as they reach puberty. In the meantime, studies reveal that the main reason for this procedure is related to the crimes of honor that leave behind a “social stigma” if those mentally disabled females were raped and got pregnant…
Head of “I am a Human” Society, Asia Yaghi, said that through her interaction with the families of the mentally disabled girls, she got to know that the parents complain from their daughters’ inability to look after themselves during their menstrual cycles, not to mention the fatigue and exhaustion that their mothers or sisters suffer from due to the need for serving them, especially if there are more than one mentally disabled child within the same family. Moreover, some parents consider that there is no need for the uterus, since the mentally disabled female will not get married.
Yaghi also considers that the phenomenon of removing the uterus increases the possibility of rape; thus, aggravating the repercussions both at the social and health levels…
Moreover, Maha Al-Mas’oudi, President of the Woman Committee at the Supreme Council for Disability Affairs, said in an interview that the act of removing the uteri of the mentally disabled girls has religious aspects that forbid it and legal aspects that consider the parents not entitled to decide on behalf of their daughters, in addition to health-related dangers and side effects for removing the uterus. She added that the phenomenon is prevalent in Amman and other big Jordanian cities, and among all the classes of the society, as they take place in the private and official hospitals, knowing that the unofficial number of these operations is estimated at 260 from 2007 till 2010…
Al-Mas’oudi regards the operations of removing the uterus as a “violation to the rights and dignity of mentally disabled girls”…
On another level, the official parties have not adopted yet any policies that offer adequate health services and efficient legal protection to the disabled…
Dr. Ahmad Al-Armouti, President of Jordan Medical Association, said that most of the hysterectomy procedures are operated in governmental hospitals and that the surgeon performs them based on the request of the parents, who live mostly in a poor society. He also clarified that the Jordan Medical Association has set strict conditions for performing hysterectomy, including a report from a psychologist and a neurologist, as well as a report from a gynecologist that states that this condition necessitates hysterectomy…
The main question here is: "Do we have the right to manipulate man’s body even if he was disabled in any way knowing that this could harm him psychologically and health-wise?! Do we have such a right knowing that we should look after and protect the people, especially the disabled, to protect them and safeguard their human dignity?!
On the religious level, it is forbidden to manipulate the other’s body in what could harm him, whether by his consent or not, and whether the one approving performing the act is the guardian or not, except in what necessitates a medical treatment determined according to the individual’s health condition. As for the underage children who require the presence of a guardian to handle their affairs, it is impermissible to defect their bodies in any way or remove any part of them, such as removing the girl’s uterus; an act that cannot be justified by protecting her from being raped and getting pregnant. On the contrary, it is our duty to protect them, just as we protect our healthy children.
This issue is indisputable according to the rules and standards adopted in our religious opinion, which deems forbidden the acts of harming and damaging the other, as well as committing violence and offending the other’s dignity and properties…
[The juristic office of His Eminence, the late Religious Authority, Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah (ra)]