{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/prohibition-of-female-circumcision-act-1985/section-2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/prohibition-of-female-circumcision-act-1985/section-2.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/1985/38",
  "legislation_title": "Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/prohibition-of-female-circumcision-act-1985",
  "path": "section/2",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "2",
  "heading": "Saving for necessary surgical operations.",
  "text": "(1) Subsection (1)(a) of section 1 shall not render unlawful the performance of a surgical operation if that operation—\n(a) is necessary for the physical or mental health of the person on whom it is performed and is performed by a registered medical practitioner; or\n(b) is performed on a person who is in any stage of labour or has just given birth and is so performed for purposes connected with that labour or birth by—\n(i) a registered medical practitioner or a registered midwife; or\n(ii) a person undergoing a course of training with a view to becoming a registered medical practitioner or a registered midwife.\n(2) In determining for the purposes of this section whether an operation is necessary for the mental health of a person, no account shall be taken of the effect on that person of any belief on the part of that or any other person that the operation is required as a matter of custom or ritual.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/38/section/2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T10:00:14.206629+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}