It’s a rare occurrence, when reporting a story, to have almost all your sources request anonymity. Yet in the process of digging into an under-the-radar but completely legal procedure known as hymenoplasty (hymen restoration), doctors we spoke to who performed it asked not to be named.

That’s because this surgery is usually done not out of medical necessity or aesthetic desire but the cultural obligation to pass a virginity test—a routine practice in at least 20 countries and one that both the United Nations and World Health Organization have declared a human rights violation.