Female Genital Mutilation Becoming Increasingly Common in the U.S.

It used to be that the practice of female genital mutilation was a rare occurrence in the United States. The act of “circumcising” young girls, which has no known benefits and can cause a host of lifelong medical problems, is mostly performed in African and Middle Eastern nations. But now it’s shockingly common to find women in America who have undergone the procedure, according to a recent report published by the Government Accountability Office.

They dug up statistics provided by the CDC, which found that the number of girls and women in the United States who have undergone the procedure or are at risk, has tripled since 1990. In 2012 it was estimated that there were 513,000 of the these women, compared to 168,000 in 1990. “CDC attributes this change primarily to increased immigration from countries where FGM/C is practiced, rather than an increase in the occurrence of FGM/C. Agency estimates were not able to distinguish between those who have already been subjected to FGM/C and those who are at risk.”

Of course, female genital mutilation is illegal in the United States, as well as most countries. But when this procedure is done on American soil, it’s rarely reported, and perpetrators are hardly ever investigated and charged. Even when the government has suspects, their cases pretty much never amount to anything.

The report found that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials had identified 25 people who were suspected of providing the procedure, but only 1 of them was deported. “The remaining 24 were granted relief or protection from removal, were still in immigration proceedings, or were not issued a travel document by their home country to implement the immigration court’s final order of removal.”