The North Bank Evening Standard [TNBES]: Catholic Church 'Prevents Opening' of Clitoral Repair Hospital

“The goal is to help as many victims as possible have this surgery, which will also help discourage the barbaric practice of FGM,” Nadine Gary said. “When its effects can be surgically reversed for free, what would be the point?” - Photo Credit: Clitoraid

The nonprofit organization Clitoraid has on Tuesday said “pressure from the Catholic Church and other detractors” of the International Raelian Movement (IRM) has caused Burkina Faso’s government to block the scheduled March 7 opening of Clitoraid’s clitoral repair hospital.

However, Clitoraid’s team said it will hold “building inauguration ceremony” at its delayed facility on March 7 and launch surgeries at another hospital.

The clitoral repair hospital for victims of female Genital Mutilation (FGM), known as the Kamkaso (house of women) Hospital, in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, is nicknamed “the Pleasure Hospital”.

It is the first of its kind in the world. Clitoraid has said in February hundreds of women are already on its waiting list to have the surgery, which will be free for any woman who wants it.

Suddenly withdrawn

Chantal Compaore, the First Lady of Burkina Faso, was to preside at the opening ceremony of the hospital built with donated funds and through the efforts of worldwide volunteers.

“Although the government has suddenly withdrawn its approval for surgeries to be performed there, this facility, once open, will provide free surgery for victims of female genital mutilation,” said Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, president of Clitoraid and spokesperson for the IRM.

“The procedure repairs the physical damage they endured. But this wonderful mission has now been stymied by the Catholic Church and its cronies, who are conducting a smear campaign against it for their own selfish motives,” She said. “Clitoraid will seek immediate legal redress through the courts.”

She said the request for licensure of the new hospital was submitted in 2011 and they received repeated assurances from regional and national officials that the hospital could open on March 7.

However, the health minister of Burkina Faso has explained to a representative of AVFE, Clitoraid’s local partner, that the license will not be approved for its scheduled inauguration date of March 7, the U.S.-based Clitoraid says.

Vatican City (Photo credit: @Doug88888)

'Accomplice of criminals'

“By seeking to prevent our opening, the Catholic Church has become an accomplice of the criminals who mutilate the genitals of African women,” Boisselier declared. “Along with its mission of restoring mutilated clitorises for FGM victims, Clitoraid’s Pleasure Hospital will be a strong deterrent to those who still practice this barbaric custom. They would stop making the excisions since it’s foolish to destroy something that can be readily restored.”

Boisselier said this stance taken by the Catholic Church against Clitoraid is hardly a surprise, given the Vatican’s record.

“Those blocking our opening are the same criminals who support pedophile priests and money laundering by Vatican banks,” she said. “And their directives against using condoms are responsible for thousands of unnecessary AIDS deaths in Africa.”

She said Clitoraid will take prompt legal action to open the hospital.

“This pressure to close us down will only delay the opening,” she said. “Our attorneys are already looking into various legal options and there will also be worldwide protests in front of Burkina Faso’s embassies.”

Clitoraid quoted Professor R. Marie Charlemagne Ouedraogo, a Knight of the French Legion of Honor and Commander of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a well-known branch of the Catholic Church as saying: “This is a big campaign of fraud organized by the sect of Rael with the complicity of certain doctors of Burkina Faso! The health ministry and the governor are beseeched to stop this poisonous campaign! Also, the complicit doctors will have to appear before the medical board very soon!”

80 women have been lined up in Bobo-Dioulasso to have their free surgery between March 3 and March 14. The surgeries will be done at the hospital of a doctor friend who will host Clitoraid’s medical team, who are licensed to perform surgeries in Burkina Faso.

Clitoraid Communications Director Nadine Gary had explained how the idea of the hospital came about. She said: “After spiritual leader Maitreya Rael heard about a clitoral repair procedure developed by Dr. Pierre Foldes in France, he launched Clitoraid and the idea of building clinics that offer free surgery for FGM victims.”

“After the United Nations adopted a resolution banning FGM, there’s been universal agreement that it’s a violation of human rights and the integrity of individuals. And eliminating FGM is essential for women’s health, so governments must keep passing laws against it,” Gary said.

Clitoraid is an international non-profit organization offering clitoral repair surgery to FGM victims.

Source: Clitoraid/Written by TNBES