A urologist, Dr. Nabasu Nisa, says subjecting convicted female rapists to bilateral salpingectomy would not have a direct impact on their sex drive.
A bilateral salpingectomy is the surgical removal of both fallopian tubes in a female. Nisa spoke in reaction to the recent penal code amendment aimed at punishing sexual predators in Kaduna State.
Recall that on September 16, the Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, signed the State Penal Code (Amendment) Law 2020 which provides stringent penalties for convicted child molesters.
The amendment to the existing penal code seeks to punish rape with surgical castration and bilateral salpingectomy for male and female convicts respectively, as well as death penalty.
According to Wiki, ‘Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which an individual loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchidectomy, and chemical castration uses pharmaceutical drugs to deactivate the testes.’
The amended penal code reads in part, “Whoever has sexual intercourse with a male child below the age of 14 years shall be punished with surgical castration and death.
“Where a female adult is convicted for the offence of rape of a child, the court shall punish the accused with bilateral salpingectomy, and death.
“Where the victim is above 14 years, the court shall, on conviction, sentence the accused with a punishment of surgical castration and life imprisonment.”
In an exclusive interview with PUNCH HealthWise, the medical doctor emphasised that the health implication of bilateral salpingectomy or removal of the fallopian tube does not address the issue of sex drive.
“After salpingectomy, a woman’s sex drive won’t be affected. After all, the ovaries that produce the female hormones are still there. The process of salpingectomy affects the fallopian tube alone.
“In the case of female rapists, what the Kaduna Government has simply done with its surgical ‘castration’ of rapists law is to prevent the female convict’s ability to conceive, not to suppress the sex drive as is the case with male convict,” he said.
According to the urologist, ‘castration’ of convicted female rapists borders more on preventing fertility and childbearing.
“Basically, it affects childbearing and fertility functions of a woman because the fallopian tubes carry the eggs from the ovary.
“The process of fertilisation itself takes place in the fallopian tube where the resultant embryo travels down to uterus for implantation. Definitely, one will expect that fertility will be affected,” he said.