Lois Frankel: “Let me start by first of all thanking my colleague, Mr. Castro, for yielding time, and Chairman Engel and Ranking Member…”

“Let me start by first of all thanking my colleague, Mr. Castro, for yielding time, and Chairman Engel and Ranking Member McCaul for their bipartisan leadership. I am rising in support of a bipartisan resolution brought by myself and Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania denouncing female genital mutilation and cutting, known as FGM. Every girl, no matter where she is born, has a right to be free of violence, and FGM is a barbaric violation of girls' and women's human rights. It is defined by the World Health Organization as any procedure that involves partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for nonmedical reasons. Madam Speaker, there is no developmental, religious, or health- related justification for this harmful practice. FGM poses immediate risks to girls' health, including severe pain and bleeding, difficulty in passing urine, infections, and even death due to hemorrhage or shock. The practice often leaves girls with long-term scars as well: post- traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, HIV infection, cysts, abscess, genital ulcers. I could go on. Girls who have undergone FGM also face an increased risk of complications affecting their menstrual cycles, sometimes resulting in infertility. And as my colleagues pointed out, more than 200 million women and girls living today around the world, including women right here in the United States of America, have been cut.…”