Female genital mutilation outlawed in United States.

Female genital mutilation outlawed in United States.

Macready N.
Abstract
PIP:
Effective March 29, 1997, under new Congressional legislation, female genital mutilation (FGM) will be outlawed in the United States. Federal authorities will be required to inform new immigrants from countries where FGM is prevalent that parents who arrange FGM for their daughters and those who perform it will face prison sentences of up to five years. US representatives to the World Bank and other international financial institutions will be required to oppose aid to countries that have not established educational programs to end the practice. FGM is most common in Africa; it is estimated that 99% of women in Somalia and Djibouti, 90% of women in Ethiopia, and 85% of women in Sudan have undergone it. More than 127 million African women have been mutilated, and each year 2 million girls, usually between 4 and 12 years old, undergo the ordeal. In the US, 168,000 girls either are at risk of being mutilated or have been already. Almost half of them live in urban areas with large immigrant populations, including New York; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; Houston; Chicago; Philadelphia; Atlanta; Oakland, California; Newark, New Jersey; Dallas; and Boston. Fourteen states have, or are considering, bills against the practice.