Law to save ‘honour’ girls from nightmare

Sometimes I do lose faith in politics – but then something happens to restore it and I find myself grateful for all those who tirelessly fight to improve the lives of others.

Last July I wrote about the Government’s plan to criminalise virginity testing as part of a wider move to protect women from abuse and violence.

I had started to work closely with Karma Nirvana, the longest established specialist charity supporting victims and survivors of honour-based abuse.

It delivers UK-wide support through the Government-backed Honour Based Abuse Helpline, and ran a national Virginity Myths campaign to focus on the issue.

In 2020-21, the helpline had more than 12,500 contacts.

So I’m delighted to be able to congratulate Karma Nirvana and others who have lobbied for years to outlaw virginity testing and hymen reconstruction.

It was announced this week that the Government is planning to ban both hymenoplasty – needless cosmetic surgery which attempts to reconstruct the hymen – and virginity testing.

Gillian Keegan, minister for care and mental health, said she was “committed to safeguarding vulnerable women and girls”.

These procedures, prevalent in some cultures in Britain, will now be criminalised and will be recognised as honour-based abuse. It will give hope to young girls such as 17-year-old Sommer, who was dragged to a London clinic to have her virginity tested.

She said: “I’ve never had sex but the clinic said my hymen was not intact. So my parents booked for me to have it ‘repaired’. I managed to escape before this happened.”

And 23-year-old Mia revealed: “I’m so scared because my parents want me to abort my boyfriend’s baby. They’ve planned for me to then have my hymen repaired so I can be ‘married off ’ as a virgin.”

Another girl told how she faced years of pressure from her family after being raped as a teenager.

She said: “It wasn’t something I felt I had a choice over. It was as if this was the only option, something you can do to fit back in.

“I felt very alone. I felt guilty if I didn’t do it. But I knew everything my parents were saying was only for their honour.” She only escaped the pressure by marrying someone who was not concerned that her hymen was not “intact”.

I find it deplorable that young women have had to go through this abuse – and that there were medical professionals willing to carry out the procedures. In November 2020, Karma Nirvana worked with the BBC on an investigation that identified 21 clinics carrying out hymen repair surgery, at a cost of up to £3,000.

These acts of violence against women have no place in our society.

I’m thankful to all those who fought for this change in the law. While our politics may seem a joke at times, amazing things do also happen.

But it is still the duty of us all to keep our eyes open and ensure, at a grassroots level, that the law is being obeyed behind closed doors.

Practices were a deplorable abuse of young women

PLEDGE MP Gillian