Doctors, police and employers should be banned from using so-called virginity tests on women and girls, and those who continue to use them should be prosecuted, the World Health Organization has declared.

Such tests are used around the world in rape investigations and even in hiring women for certain professions. The WHO is calling on governments to ban these practices, and to educate doctors, police and others that these tests don’t indicate past sexual activity.

For centuries, many people have believed that the hymen …