Patricia Schroeder: “I have a bill in that would make it illegal to deal in female genital mutilation in this country. I know many people…”

“I have a bill in that would make it illegal to deal in female genital mutilation in this country. I know many people think that this is not an issue. But in today's newspaper, once again, we see it as an issue in a woman who was about to be deported with her two young daughters. It is very, very frightening: If they go back home, both of the children will be genitally mutilated. That had happened to her, and that is the culture, and that is what she will be returning to. This appears to be some kind of a domestic dispute between herself and her husband. He refused to file a paper, and thought this would be a nice way, I guess, that he could get her out of here. But I think it tells the real horror of what has gone on in so many countries, and this country did not pay much attention to it. But this year, thank goodness, we did include that under human rights violations, and I hope we can pass the bill to make this illegal. I hope we can move to do everything we can in the world leadership community to put this awful barbaric practice to an end that kills so many young women every year needlessly.”