Enforce the Ban on Female Genital Mutilation in the United States

Female genital mutilation is extremely harmful to the girls subjected to it and has no known medical benefits. It is defined as cutting off part of the female genitalia and in the most extreme form (type 3), the clitoris and labia minora are partially or completely removed and labia majora are sewn together and must be torn open for intercourse. Short-term complications can include fatal bleeding, anaemia, acute urinary retention, urinary infection, wound infection, septicaemia, tetanus, gangrene, necrotizing fasciitis (flesh-eating disease) and endometritis123 It is not known how many girls and women die as a result of the practice, because complications may not be recognized or reported. Type 3 mutilation can lead to prolonged, drop-by-drop urination, pain while urinating, and a feeling of needing to urinate all the time. Urine may collect underneath the scar, leaving the area under the skin constantly wet, which can lead to infection and the formation of small stones. Vesicovaginal or rectovaginal fistulae can develop (holes that allow urine or faeces to seep into the vagina). This and other damage to the urethra and bladder can lead to infections and incontinence, pain during sexual intercourse and infertility4. It also increases the risk of death to infants during childbirth. Rates of infant death during childbirth are15 percent higher for Type I FGM (partial or total removal of the clitoris), 32 percent for Type II FGM (partial or total removal of the clitoris AND labia minora), and 55 percent for Type III (partial or total removal of the clitoris, labia minora, and sewing shut of the labia majora).

The purpose of FGM is to make intercourse so painful that girls remain virgins until married. Indeed, a 2013 meta-analysis of 15 studies involving 12,671 women from seven countries concluded that women with FGM were twice as likely to report no sexual desire and 52 percent more likely to report dyspareunia (painful sexual intercourse)5. One third reported reduced sexual feelings. It is based on the belief that girls should only be valued if virgins and support for the practice is correlated with Islamic fundamentalism, an ideology that will spread very rapidly in the United States through immigration and demographics if left unchecked.

Although FGM was made illegal in the United States in 1996 6, the law has not been enforced. A CDC study in 2015 reportedly estimates that around 500,000 women and girls in the US have undergone FGM or are likely to undergo it7. The first conviction in the United States for FGM was not until 10 years after the law was passed8. Pass a law with the following provisions

1 Anyone who seeks citizenship or legal residency in the United States and brings a daughter with them in the household must have the daughter(s) inspected for signs of FGM by a doctor randomly chosen by

1 http://www.maturitas.org/article/S0378-5122%2814%2900326-0/pdf
2 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00404-012-2708-5
3 http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/fgm_eng.pdf
4 http://journals.lww.com/co-obgyn/Abstract/2005/10000/Female_genital_mutilation.9.aspx
5 http://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282%2808%2901813-X/fulltext
6 http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2011-title18/html/USCODE-2011-title18-partI-chap7-sec116.htm
7 http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/05/fgm-numbers-affected-us-women
8 http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-01-georgia_x.htm

the federal government from the pool of all doctors living in the same county as the family. The parents may not have face to face contact with the physician chosen or know his or her identity. If the doctor finds that the daughter was subjected to FGM, the parents and children must be deported within 6 months and my not become citizens or legal residents of the United States in their lifetimes. This will prevent the practice from becoming well established in the United States.

2 Any foreign-born girl or daughter of one or two foreign born parents living in the United States must be examined for FGM upon reaching the age of 18 by a doctor randomly chosen by the federal government from the pool of all doctors living in the same county as the family. The parents may not have face to face contact with the physician chosen or know his or her identity. If the doctor finds that the daughter was subjected to FGM, the parents must both be subjected to prison terms of at least 2 years.