Is it the government’s role to take reasonable measures to redistribute wealth in society by tax policy and spending policy, or should this be left solely to the marketplace?
In Michigan last year, a female medical doctor, an OB-GYN, was arrested for performing an operation on two separate female patients, one age seven and one age eight. The operation involves mutilation of the clitoris, the purpose of which is to prevent pleasure during intercourse. In human rights literature the operation is known as female genital mutilation. It is a popular procedure among Islamic sects in Africa. In this case, the parents of the girls were immigrants to the United States from Africa. The doctor was also an immigrant who had obtained her medical degree from Johns Hopkins. The defense of the doctor and the girls’ parents was that this was a religious and cultural practice in which the government has no business intervening. Do you believe ethical relativism is appropriate in this situation? Should female genital mutilation be considered a human rights violation in Africa and everywhere? Discuss fully,