A bill making it a felony for a parent to allow genital mutilation of a female child continues to make its way through the state legislature. Republican Representative Mary Franson says she’d been asked to bring about similar legislation in the past and didn’t think it was necessary. But Franson changed her mind after hearing about recent procedures performed by a Detroit-area doctor on two seven-year-old Minnesota girls who were brought to Michigan. Franson says the girls were “coerced by their moms that they were going on a special girl’s trip and never in my wildest dreams did I think a parent would find a person willing to break the law, and hand their child over to somebody for the sole purpose of robbing that child of their future sexual enjoyment, thus leaving that child to a life of health complications.” Franson says side effects of the procedure can include infections, sexual dysfunction, anxiety and depression.
The Voice of East African Women’s Fahrio Khalif is from Somalia and had the procedure as a little girl. She testified in front of a House public safety committee on Monday about the experience…
Franson says female genital mutilation is on the rise with around 513,000 girls in the U-S are at risk or have been victims of being mutilated.