Hartford, Connecticut, February 4, 2025 – Optimism is growing that a new Bill in Connecticut will lead to the introduction of a statewide ban against female genital mutilation/ cutting (FGM/C). Thousands of women and girls across the state have undergone or are at risk of this harmful practice. Despite this, Connecticut remains one of just nine US states that still lack state-level legal protections—something advocates hope this legislation will finally change.
Survivor-led efforts to prohibit FGM/C
Introduced by Connecticut Representative Jillian Gilchrest (D) for the current three-month legislative session, Bill HB 6596, titled ‘An Act Concerning the Prevention of Female Genital Mutilation,’ was drafted with significant input from those with personal experience of FGM/C and motivated by long-running advocacy from the CT Coalition to End FGM/C.
Survivors and others from impacted communities, alongside women’s rights advocates and civil society organizations – including the U.S. Network to End FGM/C, Sahiyo, Equality Now, and the Connecticut General Assembly’s Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity, and Opportunity – have long called for state legislation against FGM/C in Connecticut, citing how a law would help those at risk and their families resist cultural and social pressures to continue the practice.
Connecticut legislators have made five unsuccessful attempts to pass a law addressing FGM/C. Proposed bills in 2018, 2020, and 2021 aimed at criminalizing FGM/C or studying its prevalence did not progress beyond the committee stage, while in 2019, a Bill was rejected by the State Senate. In 2024, a drafted Bill failed to even be introduced.
FGM/C in the US
FGM/C is internationally recognized as a serious human rights violation involving partial or total removal or damage to healthy female genitalia for non-medical reasons. The procedure can lead to numerous immediate and long-term health issues, including severe bleeding which can result in death, chronic infections, psychological trauma, sexual dysfunction, and infertility. FGM/C can also cause childbirth complications and higher maternal and infant mortality rates.
At least 577,000 women and girls in 2019 were estimated to have undergone or be at risk of FGM/C in the U.S., according to the AHA Foundation. While there is some awareness about the practice occurring in some diaspora communities, there is far less recognition of it happening in other communities, including Christian communities in the U.S.
Connecticut’s Bill to prohibit FGM/C at a state level
Connecticut now has the opportunity to ban FGM/C with the 2025 Bill, which has advanced to the second stage of the legislative process for committee review and hearing. If passed, Connecticut will become the 42nd state to criminalize the practice.
While the Bill’s exact language is still pending, previous versions of proposed anti-FGM/C legislation in Connecticut contained best practice provisions such as cross-departmental partnerships to develop and implement prevention and response activities, and education programs to raise awareness about FGM/C’s harms.
Advocates are calling for the Bill to mandate the development of specialized training for healthcare providers, enhanced collaboration between the state and non-governmental organizations, the right for survivors to pursue civil action cases for damages, and delay the start of the statute of limitations until survivors turn 18.
“We are closely monitoring the Bill as it moves through the legislative process and are hopeful that its language will reflect best practice provisions, including creating a civil right of action for survivors,” said Anastasia Law from Equality Now.
“Good legislation in other states incorporates a range of provisions, including robust education and awareness-raising programs, revoking medical licenses from healthcare practitioners who perform FGM/C, mandatory requirements to report FMG/C, and sanctions for “vacation cutting”, which is the practice of arranging for a person to be transported out of the state to undergo FGM/C,” she added.
While parties await the final language to be revealed, the introduction of the Bill marks a crucial step in the right direction.
Need for comprehensive protections against FGM/C at a state level
Performing FGM/C in the U.S. or taking a girl out of the country for the purpose of being cut is already a federal crime. However, legislation outlawing FGM/C at the state level is crucial because state agencies and officials have far greater capacity than federal authorities to directly assist women and girls.
State laws govern local police, healthcare, social services, criminal justice, and schools. This makes local governments best placed to raise awareness about FGM/C at a community level, provide direct support to survivors and those at risk, and investigate and prosecute cases.
An interactive map by Equality Now and the U.S. End FGM/C Network shares FGM/C legal provisions and gaps in every state. Washington D.C. is the most recent district to pass legislation outlawing the practice, leaving just nine states without state-level legal protection against FGM/C – Connecticut, Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, and New Mexico.
In 2023, Equality Now, the U.S. End FGM/C Network, and partners made a submission to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, highlighting the U.S.’s failure to protect women and girls within its borders from FGM/C and other human rights violations. The Committee recommended to the U.S. government that its federal legislation – the Stop FGM Act of 2022 (also known as Strengthening the Opposition to Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2020) – should be effectively implemented and states should be encouraged to pass legislation prohibiting all forms of FGM/C.
If passed, Connecticut will join the growing number of states taking a stand against FGM/C and affirming the right of every woman and girl to live free from this form of harm.
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First published by AP News https://apnews.com/press-release/ein-presswire-newsmatics/connecticut-legislation-womens-rights-913f97bfbc96351b27bdffaa587bb5ae
Notes to editor: For media inquiries, please contact: Mel Bailey, Communications Officer for North America and Global Ending Sexual Violence Campaign at Equality Now, E: mbailey@equalitynow.org, T: 212-586-0906 ext.16
About Equality Now: Founded in 1992, Equality Now is an international human rights organization that works to protect and promote the rights of all women and girls around the world.
Our campaigns are centered on four program areas: Legal Equality, End Sexual Violence, End Harmful Practices, and End Sexual Exploitation, with a cross-cutting focus on the unique needs of adolescent girls. Equality Now combines grassroots activism with international, regional, and national legal advocacy to achieve legal and systemic change to benefit all women and girls and works to ensure that governments enact and enforce laws and policies that uphold their rights.
For more details, go to www.equalitynow.org, Facebook @equalitynoworg, LinkedIn Equality Now, and Bluesky @equalitynow.bsky.social .
About the Connecticut Coalition to End FGM: The Connecticut Coalition to End FGM/C is a survivor-led coalition working to build holistic solutions to support survivors and prevent future generations of children in the State of Connecticut from experiencing FGM/C.
We are working with a diverse coalition of stakeholders, advocating for comprehensive legislation that will help protect girls from FGM/C, provide survivors with support services, raise awareness of the harm FGM/C causes, and educate frontline professionals on how to provide culturally specific and sensitive care. In 2020, members of the CT Coalition started a Change.org petition that was signed by over 80,000 individuals calling on CT to pass a law to protect children from FGM/C.
For more information, go to www.endfgmcinct.com
About The U.S. End FGM/C Network: The U.S. End FGM/C Network (“the Network”) is a collaborative group of over 200 survivors, civil society organizations, foundations, activists, policymakers, researchers, healthcare providers, and others committed to promoting the abandonment of female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) in the U.S. and around the world. The Network’s mission is to eliminate FGM/C by connecting, supporting, elevating and advocating on behalf of and with diverse U.S. stakeholders engaged in prevention, education, and care. The U.S. End FGM/C Network serves as the main source for information and the lead advocacy voice on ending this harmful practice in the United States and around the world.
For more details go to https://endfgmnetwork.org, Instagram @usendfgmnetwork, Twitter @usendfgmnetwork, Facebook @usendfgmnetwork, and LinkedIn The U.S. End FGM/C Network.
About Sahiyo: Our mission is to empower Asian and other communities to end female genital cutting (FGC) and create positive social change through dialogue, education and collaboration based on community involvement. Sahiyo formed in 2015 as an advocacy collective of South Asian and other survivors of female genital cutting (FGC), also known as female genital mutilation, to address the lack of acknowledgment of FGC as gender-based violence and child abuse impacting U.S. women. Sahiyo empowers underrepresented communities to advocate for their inclusion within FGC discourse and support them to create systemic change to end this centuries-long practice. Sahiyo utilizes collaborative grassroots campaigns and storytelling techniques to train communities to lead this change. Sahiyo also partners with frontline workers (i.e. healthcare providers) to create culturally sensitive systems of care for survivors and with the government to address policy-level change.
Sahiyo U.S. is fiscally sponsored by Empowerment WORKS (EW), a U.S.-based civic and social change organization advancing a whole system approach to a sustainable world. Empowerment WORKS partners with nonprofit organizations and shares knowledge and best practices to accelerate change through their Partners in Empowerment network.
For more details, go to sahiyo.org, Twitter/Instagram/Facebook @sahiyovoices