The Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) wishes to be recorded in strong support of Senate Bill 834/House Bill 3332, An Act relative to female genital mutilation/An Act relative to the penalties for the crime of female genital mutilation.
The Medical Society supports initiatives to increase physicians’, other health workers’, and the public’s knowledge of child abuse to improve education and training methods for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of child abuse. MMS further supports the development of evidence-based programs that continue to advance medical knowledge and competence in the control of this public health problem and engages in collaborative work with professionals, especially in fields such as child welfare, law, social work, psychology, education, and religion in the management of child abuse. This bill, particularly the provisions addressing education, prevention, and community outreach, supports this long-held MMS policy.
The practice of female genital mutilation (FGM), defined as “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs, or any harmful procedure to the female genitalia,” is recognized internationally as a human rights violation, torture, and an extreme form of discrimination against woman and girls. The reasons underlying the practice of FGM are non-medical and serve to control women and girls’ sexuality. FGM can result in lifelong health consequences, including chronic infections, hemorrhage, severe pain during urination, menstruation, or sexual intercourse and psychological trauma. A 2012 prevalence study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control estimates that over half a million women and girls in the United States had FGM performed on them or were at risk of FGM, including 14,591 women and girls in Massachusetts, placing Massachusetts 12th in the nation for at-risk populations.
This legislation criminalizes the following acts: committing FGM on a child; removing a child from Massachusetts for the purposes of committing FGM; assisting a child in committing FGM on herself; consenting to the commission of FGM on a child; and aiding and abetting another in the commission of FGM on a child. It would also put in place a comprehensive program for education, prevention, and outreach to communities that commonly practice FGM in order to inform them of the health risks and emotional trauma inflicted by the practice of FGM.
Thirty-five states and the federal government have passed laws banning FGM. Massachusetts is a national leader in public health and welfare policies, and this legislation would further that leadership by promoting the health and safety of women and girls throughout the Commonwealth. MMS therefore urges the Committee on Judiciary to vote to report S.834/H.3332 out of committee favorably.
