“Female genital mutilation is child abuse,” said Ryan Patrick, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas.

A federal indictment has charged a Houston, Texas woman with female genital mutilation for bringing an unnamed girl to a foreign country for the operation, a social/religious one that occurs in parts of Africa and Asia, according to this account.

Unpleasant and gruesome as this procedure seems to be, it happens all over the West many times daily. Of course, I'm referring to the barbaric practice of male circumcision. Since it's performed on newly-born boys, who are expected to scream for any old reason, little attention is paid to their discomfort and the victims are unlikely to sue their parents upon attaining majority. Nobody calls it child abuse.