Our Position

American Atheists supports expanding laws that prohibit young girls and women from female genital mutilation (FGM) and closing any existing religious loopholes that prevent full enforcement of existing laws.

Background

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is the ritualized cutting of or alteration of female genitalia for non-medical purposes. This practice is predominantly forced upon young girls, often for religious or cultural reasons, and is often performed by non-licensed practitioners.

FGM is the cutting away of healthy tissue from a girl’s vulva in order to control her sexuality. It’s typically carried out from infancy to age 15. The most severe form removes all of the child’s external genitals using a razor blade or other sharp object, sewing the wound shut, leaving only a small opening for menstruation and urination.

According to Amanda Parker, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Director at the AHA Foundation, “There are no health benefits; FGM is associated with lifelong physical and psychological harms. No major religion requires FGM, though some religious sects and patriarchal societies have adopted the practice.”

FGM is an internationally-recognized human rights abuse and a form of gender-based violence. The United States has endorsed multiple United Nations resolution that call for the eradication of FGM, including the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Despite perceptions that FGM only happens overseas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 513,000 women and girls in the U.S. are at risk of or have undergone the procedure.

A majority of states prohibit FGM and make subjecting minors to this practice a felony.

Comprehensive state laws also provide public education about FGM, create programs to raise awareness about this dangerous practice, and offer resources to girls and young women who are at risk for FGM.

Recent Developments

In 1996, Congress passed a federal law prohibiting FGM. Unfortunately, in 2018, a Michigan district court judge ruled the law unconstitutional due to federalism concerns. As of December 2019, the case remains under appeal.

Protecting young women from FGM is a bipartisan issue. In Michigan, following the arrest of two doctors for performing FGM in a Detroit suburb in 2017, twelve legislators equally split by political affiliation worked together to enact what was then the strongest anti-FGM legislation in the country. In 2019, seven new states enacted anti-FGM laws and four states strengthened existing laws.

In January 2021, President Trump signed H.R. 6100, the STOP FGM Act of 2020 (sponsored by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee) after it passed both chambers of the U.S. Congress without opposition. This law makes it a federal crime to carry out or conspire to carry out FGM, increased maximum penalties for FGM, and requires government agencies to report to Congress about the estimated number of women who are at risk or have had FGM, and on efforts to prevent FGM.