Virginity testing and hymen repair surgery to be banned in the UK

 (iStock)
(iStock)

The government is set to make hymen repair surgery, or hymenoplasty, illegal after it added an amendment to the health and care bill on Monday.

The hymen is a small piece of skin found inside the opening of the vagina and it is often misleadingly associated with a woman's virginity, with some people believing that when it is "broken" a woman is no longer a virgin.

According to Natural Cycles, the hymen doesn’t break — it stretches. “In reality, nothing physical is lost, and while our first time having sex may be significant for many of us, there isn’t a biological change to our bodies,” it said on its site.

The government’s amendment means any procedure that aims to reconstruct the hymen will be banned.

Hymenoplasty is a plastic surgery that attempts to recreate a woman’s hymen so that she bleeds the next time she has penetrative intercourse, so that she appears to be a virgin.

In some cultures, it is frowned upon for women to have sex before marriage and having a hymen in tact is seen as “proof of purity”.

However, the NHS says that a woman won’t always bleed when she has penetrative sex for the first time and there are other ways that a hymen can be broken, including using tampons and horse riding.

Hymenoplasty can cost up to £3,000 and has been described as a form of “honour-based abuse”.

The amendment to the health and care bill follows a report on hymenoplasty published by the government in December last year.

The report by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Home Office looked to understand who is carrying out virginity tests — the practice of determining whether a girl or woman is a virgin by seeing if her hymen is still intact — in what settings these tests and hymenoplasty are carried out and whether women and girls are being coerced into having the tests or surgery.

“The review concluded that there is no reason why a virginity test should be carried out,” the report said. “It is not a medical procedure, and is based on repressive and inaccurate views about female virginity and the hymen. It is a form of abuse and violence against women and girls (VAWG) that has detrimental physical and psychological impacts on women and girls.”

One of the anonymous case studies in the review, known only as “LH”, said she was pressured by her parents to have hymenoplasty after they found out that she had been in a serious relationship without telling them. LH went ahead with the surgery and had an arranged marriage.

“LH suffered extreme coercive control from her husband,” the report stated. “Looking back, LH sees that the hymenoplasty played a key role in enabling the abusive forced marriage.”

According to the report, some physical side effects of hymenoplasty can include sexual difficulties, narrowing of the introitus (the opening of the vagina), acute bleeding during the procedure and increased pain sensation.

Another case study from the report, known as “S”, was sexually abused as a child by an extended family member and raped as a teenager.

S says her parents tried to pressure her into having hymenoplasty but, instead, she got married to someone who would “not judge her for being a virgin”. “S feels very strongly that hymenoplasty is a form of honour-based abuse and must be banned,” the report added.

Dr Edward Morris, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, told the Guardian that the organisation has been campaigning for the ban of virginity testing and hymenoplasty as they are “inextricably linked” to forms of VAWG.

He continued: “We want to send a clear message to healthcare professionals that neither practice has any place in the medical world and should not be carried out under any circumstances. We will inform the General Medical Council if we are made aware of anyone carrying out these procedures, so they can take the appropriate action. Women deserve to have ownership over their own sexual and reproductive health.”

The government report added: “The government is aware that banning the procedure alone will not tackle the harmful misbeliefs and misconceptions surrounding virginity, and that wider societal education is required. Work has already begun with a roundtable with key stakeholders to discuss how best to provide general education and information around these issues and what targeted work with communities is needed and how this fits in with wider work on preventing and tackling honour-based abuse.”

Any children affected by this story can contact the NSPCC on 0800 1111 and adults concerned about a child can ring 0808 800 5000. For adults, the national domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247 or you can contact Women’s Aid.